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Covid-19 Temporary Relief Scheme, 2020

General Notice 215 of 2020

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Covid-19 Temporary Relief Scheme, 2020
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General Notice 215 of 2020
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Disaster Management Act, 2002
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General Notice
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Disaster Management Act, 2002

Covid-19 Temporary Relief Scheme, 2020

General Notice 215 of 2020

  1. [Amended by Covid-19 Temporary Relief Scheme, 2020: Amendment (General Notice 240 of 2020) on 8 April 2020]
  2. [Amended by Covid-19 Temporary Relief Scheme, 2020: Amendment (Government Notice R486 of 2020) on 4 May 2020]
  3. [Amended by Covid-19 Temporary Relief Scheme, 2020: Further amendment (Government Notice R541 of 2020) on 15 May 2020]
  4. [Amended by Covid-19 Temporary Relief Scheme, 2020: Amendment (Government Notice R595 of 2020) on 26 May 2020]
  5. [Amended by Direction Extending COVID-19 TERS Benefits for Certain Categories of Employee (Government Notice R968 of 2020) on 16 August 2020]
[There is no indication of the date on which the amendments in GN R595 of 2020 were published on the Department's website, therefore the publication date of the Government Gazette has been used as the date of commencement for those amendments. See Section 3 of GN R595 of 2020.]I, Thembelani Waltermade Nxesi, the Minister of Employment and Labour, in terms of Regulation 10 (8) of the Regulations issued by the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs in terms of section 27 (2) of the Disaster Management Act, 2002 (Act No. 57 of 2002) has determined that it is necessary to implement steps in respect of the administration of the COVID-19 through the Covid19 Temporary Employee / Employer Relief Scheme to prevent an escalation of the COVID-19 infections funded through the National Disaster Benefit.
The President has on the 15 March 2020 declared the Covid-19 pandemic a National Disaster and announced several extraordinary measures to combat this grave public health emergency. The National Disaster has been declared in terms of the National Disaster Act, 2002 (Act No. 57 of 2002) ("the Act"). As a result of this declaration, the Minister of Cooperative Governance (COGTA) has made Regulations in terms of section 27 (2) of the Act. In terms of Regulation 10(8), the Minister empowers various Ministers to issue Directives with regard to the National Disaster in respect of matters falling within their respective mandates.On the 23rd March 2020, the President announced the national lockdown in order to curb the spread of the Covid-19.In view of the declaration of the National Disaster, in terms of Regulation 10(8), the Minister of Employment and Labour has issued a Directive called Covid19 Temporary Employee / Employer Relief Scheme (C19 TERS).During this period of lockdown, companies will have to shut down and employees laid off temporarily. This means that employees are compelled to take leave, which is not out of choice. We therefore anticipate that employees may lose income. Employers are encouraged to continue to pay employees, but where this is not economically possible; we have created a special benefit under the Unemployment Insurance Fund as per the Directive Covid-19 Temporary Employee / Employer Relief Scheme.

1. Definitions

1.1In these Directives, unless the context otherwise indicates -
1.1.1"UI Act" means the Unemployment Insurance Act, 2001. (Act No. 63 of 2001) as amended and any word or expression to which the meaning has been assigned in the Act has that meaning;
1.1.2"COVID-19" means the 2019 coronavirus (SARS-COV2/COVID-19);
1.1.3"COVID-19 National Disaster" means a national disaster relating to the Covid-19 pandemic declared in Government Notice No. 313 of Government Gazette No. 42096 on 15 March 2020;
1.1.4"Quarantine" means separating a symptomatic individual potentially exposed to a disease from non-exposed individuals in such a manner so as to prevent possible spread infection or contamination;
1.1.5"Covid-19 temporary employee / employer relief scheme" means a scheme established to compensate employees who have lost income due to Covid-19; and
1.1.6“Scheme” means the Covid-19 temporary relief scheme.[clause 1.1.6 inserted by section 1 of General Notice 240 of 2020]
1.1.7"temporary lay-off" means a reduction in work following a temporary closure of business operations, whether total or partial, due to Covid -19 pandemic for the period of the National Disaster.[clause 1.1.6 renumbered as 1.1.7 and substituted by section 2 of General Notice 240 of 2020]
1.1.8“Bargaining council” means a bargaining council or statutory council registered in 1terms of the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (Act No. 66 of 1995).[clause 1.1.8 added by section 1 of Government Notice R541 of 2020]
1.1.9“Entity” means any juristic person that in terms of its articles of association or constitution has employees or employers as members and is permitted to pay COVID-19 benefits to employees directly or indirectly through its employer members.[clause 1.1.9 added by section 1 of Government Notice R541 of 2020]
1.1.10“Worker” means -(a)a contributor; or(b)an employee as defined in the UI Act who should have received benefits under this Directive but for circumstances beyond that employee’s control, namely that the employer failed to-(i)the register as an employer in contravention of section 10(1) of the Unemployment Insurance Contributions Act, 2002 (Act No. 4 of 2002);(ii)provide details relating to the employees in contravention of section 10(3) of that Act and accordingly not registered as contributors; or(iii)pay the contributions contemplated in section 5(1) of that Act in respect of that employee.[clause 1.1.10 added by section 1 of Government Notice R595 of 2020]

2. Purpose

2.1The purpose of this Directive is -
2.1.1To make provision for the-
(a)Payment of benefits to workers who have lost income or have been required to take annual leave in terms of section 20(10) of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, 1997 (Act No. 75 of 1997) due to the COVID-19 pandemic;[clause 2.1.1(a) amended by section 1 of Government Notice R486 of 2020, as corrected, and substituted by section 2 of Government Notice R595 of 2020]
(b)Minimise economic impact of loss of employment because of the Covid-19 pandemic;
(c)Avoid contact and contain the spread of Covid-19 during the process of application for benefit;
(d)Establish the Temporary Employee / Employer Relief Scheme and set out the application process for benefits of the Covid-19 pandemic and to alleviate economic impact of Covid-19;
2.1.2to make provision for online applications for benefits in order to avoid contact during the national disaster period.

3. Covid-19 employee/employer temporary relief scheme (C19 TERS)

3.1Subject to clause 3.8 in view of social distancing and in order to avoid in person individual employee applications at Departmental offices for the Covid-19 benefit during lockdown, should an employer as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic close its operations, or a part of its operations, for a 3 (three) months or lesser period the employer must apply in accordance with clause 5.1 and 5.2 for Covid-19 benefits for and on behalf of its affected employees.[clause 3.1 substituted by section 3 of General Notice 240 of 2020, and amended by section 2 of Government Notice R486 of 2020, and by section 2 of Government Notice R541 of 2020]
3.2The benefit shall be de-linked from the UIF’s normal benefits and therefore the normal rule that for every 4 (four) days worked, the employee accumulates a one day credit and the maximum credit days payable is 365 for every 4 (four) years will not apply.
3.3The benefits will only pay for the cost of salary for the employees during the temporary closure of the business operations.
3.4The salary to be taken into account in calculating the benefits will be capped at a maximum amount of R17,712.00 per month, per employee and an employee will be paid in terms of the income replacement rate sliding scale (38%-60%) as provided in the UI Act.[clause 3.4 substituted by section 4 of General Notice 240 of 2020]
3.5Subject to clauses 3.6 and 5.3, a qualifying employee will receive a benefit calculated in terms of section 13 (1) of the Ul Act.[clause 3.5 substituted by section 5 of General Notice 240 of 2020 and replaced by section 2.4 of Government Notice R968 of 2020]
3.6Should the benefit calculated in clause 3.5 together with any remuneration earned fall below R3 500, the benefit will be increased to ensure that the employee receives R3 500.[clause 3.6 substituted by section 6 of General Notice 240 of 2020 and corrected by Government Notice R486 of 2020 and replaced by section 2.4 of Government Notice R968 of 2020]
3.7For the company to qualify for the temporary financial relief scheme, it must satisfy the following requirements -
3.7.1The company must be registered with the UIF;
3.7.2The company must comply with the application procedure for the financial relief scheme; and
3.7.3The company’s closure must be directly linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.
3.8
3.8.1An employer whose employees are entitled to receive Covid-19 benefits provided by the Unemployment Insurance Fund during the period of lockdown from a bargaining council or entity may not make an application in terms of the Scheme and the employees of that employer may not receive any payment in terms of the Scheme other than through the bargaining council or entity.
3.8.2The restriction in clause 3.8.1 above only applies if -
(a)The parties to the bargaining council have concluded a collective agreement that -
(i)has been extended by the Minister of Employment and Labour in terms of section 32 of the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (Act No. 66 of 1995); and
(ii)provides for the disbursement of funds received from the Unemployment Insurance Fund to provide Covid-19 benefits to employees bound by the collective agreement during the period of lock-down; and/or
(b)the bargaining council has concluded a memorandum of agreement with the Fund for the council to disburse Covid-19 benefits on behalf of the Fund to –
(i)the employees who fall within the scope of the collective agreement or its registered scope; and
(ii)if authorized by the memorandum of agreement, any other employees in a sector identified in the agreement, whether or not they fall within the registered scope of the bargaining council; or
(c)An entity has concluded a memorandum of agreement with the Fund for it to disburse Covid-19 benefits on behalf of the Fund to employees who are employed by its members; or
(d)the employer has not submitted an application for COVID-19 benefits prior to the bargaining council or entity signing of a MOA with the UIF.
[clause 3.8 inserted by section 7 of General Notice 240 of 2020, amended by section 3 of Government Notice R486 of 2020, and substituted by section 3 of Government Notice R541 of 2020]
3.9An employee may individually apply for COVID-19 benefits if-
3.9.1the employee meets the requirements of clause 2.1.1 (a) of this Directive;
3.9.2no bargaining council or entity has concluded a MOA with the UIF in terms of clause 3.8; and
3.9.2the employee’s employer has failed or refused to apply for COVID-19 benefits in terms of clause 3.1.
[clause 3.9 added by section 4 of Government Notice R541 of 2020]
3.10This Directive, including any amendments made to it, takes effect from 27 March 2020.[clause 3.10 added by section 4 of Government Notice R541 of 2020]

4. Illness benefit

4.1Where an employee is in quarantine for 14 days due to Covid-19 pandemic, the employee shall qualify for illness benefit.
4.2Confirmation from both the employer and the employee must be submitted together with the application as a proof that the employee was in an agreed pre-cautionary self-quarantine for 14 days.
4.3In this instance, the confirmation letters from the employer and employee shall suffice.
4.4Should an employee be quarantined for more than 14 days, a medical certificate from a medical practitioner must be submitted together with continuation form for payment.

5. Application procedure

5.1The employers shall apply by reporting their closure to email box Covid19ters@labour.gov.za and there shall be an automatic response outlining the application process.
5.2The employer shall be required to furnish the Unemployment Insurance Fund with the following completed documents:
5.2.1Letter of authority from the company;
5.2.2Signed memorandum of agreement from the employer or bargaining council with the UIF, or written or electronic confirmation of acceptance by an employer or bargaining council of the terms and conditions of the scheme provided to the employer or bargaining council or published in writing by the UIF.[clause 5.2.2 substituted by section 8 of General Notice 240 of 2020]
5.3Subject to the amount of the benefit contemplated in clause 3.5, an employee may only receive covid-19 benefits in terms of the Directive if the total of the benefit together with any remuneration paid by the employer for work performed by the employee in any period is not more than the remuneration that the employee would ordinarily have received for working during that period.[clause 5.3 substituted by section 9 of General Notice 240 of 2020 and replaced by section 2.4 of Government Notice R968 of 2020]
5.4All amounts paid by or for the UIF to employers or Bargaining Council(s) under the terms of the Scheme shall be utilized solely for the purposes of the Scheme and for no other purpose. No amount paid by or for the UIF to an employer or Bargaining Council under the terms of the Scheme that is required to be paid, in turn, to an employee will fall into the general assets of the employer or Bargaining Council, and no bank may refuse to release or administer the transfer of that amount into the bank account of the employee as required by the Scheme, irrespective whether the employer or Bargaining Council is in breach of its overdraft or similar contractual arrangements with the bank concerned.[clause 5.4 inserted by section 10 of General Notice 240 of 2020]
5.4An employer, who has required an employee to take annual leave during the period of the lockdown in terms of section 20(10)(b) of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, 1997 (Act 75 of 1997), may set off any amount received from the UIF in respect of that employee's COVID 19 benefit against the amount paid to the employee in respct of annual leave provided that the employee is credited with the proportionate entitlement to aid annual leave in the future.[second clause 5.4 added by section 4 of Government Notice R486 of 2020, as corrected]
5.5To speed payment of COVID 19 benefits to employees, employers are urged to pay employees based on clause 3.4 of the Directive and reimburse or set off such with COVID 19 benefits claim payments from UIF.[clause 5.5 added by section 4 of Government Notice R486 of 2020]

6. Short title

6.1This Directive is called the "Covid-19 Temporary Relief Scheme, 2020".

7. Commencement

7.1This Directive shall commence immediately from the date of publication by Minister of Employment and Labour notice in the Gazette.
7.2This Directive remains in operation for a period of 3 (three) months or until they are withdrawn by the Minister, whichever comes first.
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Cited documents 5

Act 5
1. Labour Relations Act, 1995 2483 citations
2. Disaster Management Act, 2002 1253 citations
3. Basic Conditions of Employment Act, 1997 743 citations
4. Unemployment Insurance Act, 2001 189 citations
5. Unemployment Insurance Contributions Act, 2002 119 citations

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