ONLY E400/MONTH FOR LAID OFF WORKERS

MBABANE – Is it meagre, reasonable or enough? Following Prime Minister Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini’s announcement last week Friday of an amount of E25 million set aside to assist workers who have been laid off due to the effects of COVID-19, guidelines of how this relief fund will be distributed are now out.

They stipulate that a successful claimant will get E400 a month but for not more than two months, which means that the maximum a laid off worker can get is E800.
In the event that the period of unpaid layoff is less than a full month and the employee has earned a salary which is less than the flat rate of E400, those employees will be entitled to a prorated share of the E400.
The affected employees are not the ones who are supposed to file the claims; instead, this task has been given to employers, who will do so ‘on behalf of the affected employees’.
The guidelines were released yesterday by Minister of Labour and Social Security Makhosi Vilakati.

Reacting to the amount, the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA), though welcoming the initiative and especially commending the Eswatini National Provident Fund for the initiative, described it as too little.
 “The allocation, if meagre, can’t even cover rental costs, which is very basic for a worker to remain within reachable distance from employment,” said Secretary General Mduduzi Gina.
He opined that it would have been better of the money was at least E800 a month to cover half of the workers’ normal monthly wage.

He said he based such on the understanding that a majority of the affected workers are in the textile and apparel sector as well as the hotel and catering sector.
In this respect, he advised government to engage landlords to suspend the collection of rent for the duration of the state of emergency.

UNCOLLECTED TAX
“This is possible because the landlords owe the government millions in uncollected tax from their rental business, they surely should cooperate,” he said. 
It is emphasised in the guidelines that ‘no individual workers shall be attended as claims are required to be submitted by employers’.


The process is expected to begin on Wednesday (June 17, 2020) when employees may start downloading the claim form template from the government website.
An employer, when filing the claim, must provide, among other things, a letter of approval of the layoffs issued by the office of the Commissioner of Labour. Also to be provided is a copy of the wages register preceding the layoffs; a copy of NPF 200 (returns) preceding layoffs; proof of any amounts paid to the employees during the period of the layoff, if any, in comparison to the employee’s regular wages.  
As part of the guidelines, the minister said the purpose of the special fund is to provide compensatory relief to employees who have suffered loss of earnings as a result of being temporarily laid off without pay at their places of employment due to the COVID-19.

The funds, as per the guidelines, are going to be distributed to qualifying workers through the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA).
A dedicated management committee composed of senior government officials, employer and employee representatives will be appointed to, among other duties; supervise the whole administration of the fund’s designated account to be opened by NDMA for depositing and disbursing the money to qualifying workers.

The committee will also receive, screen and approve claims before payment is made by NDMA; and also receive grants, donations or contributions from any other lawful source to supplement the fund towards meeting the purpose for which it is created.
Additionally, the committee will give strategic direction on the control, management and disbursement of monies belonging to the special purpose fund.  
  

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