GroundUp reports that domestic worker unions and the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of SA (SERI) are concerned that the Compensation Fund (CF) has not given domestic workers sufficient time to lodge claims for work-related injuries, diseases and death sustained while on duty during the last 27 years.
The CF Commissioner announced in the Government Gazette of 10 March that domestic workers would be covered by the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act (COIDA). Their inclusion came after a Constitutional Court ruling in November 2020, declaring their exclusion unconstitutional and that the Act applied retrospectively to them from April 1994. Domestic workers were given 12 months from 19 November 2020 to submit their claims. According to the Department of Labour, at this time there are currently no claims from domestic workers. “The Compensation Commissioner is unreasonable. They excluded us for 27 years, but they expect domestic workers to submit their [retrospective] claims within the remaining five or six months,” said Pinky Mashiane of United Domestic Workers of SA (Udwosa). Concerned that the CF has not taken steps to educate domestic workers about the new situation, SERI submitted a letter to the CF Commissioner on 8 April, but the CF has not acknowledged receipt of the letter or communicated what steps were being taken to address the issues raised. The SA Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union (SADSAWU) had requested a workshop from the Department of Labour to equip them with the knowledge required to help domestic workers who wanted to submit claims, but were never afforded that kind of session.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Masego Mafata at GroundUp
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