FEDUSA Welcomes the Extension of COVID-19 TERS Payouts to 15 August 2020

23 July 2020

The Federation of Unions of South Africa (FEDUSA) has welcomed the government’s wise move to extend the Covid-19 Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme (TERS) until the middle of August which was announced on Wednesday by deputy minister Boitumelo Moloi.

The COVID-19 TERS is Special UIF Benefit that was instituted by government to assist workers who had been furloughed or required to go on leave without pay, had been laid-off or whose employers could not afford to pay their wages in full due to the pandemic from April this year until the end of June.

The scheme envisaged paying a maximum amount of R6 730 each month to workers earning more than R17700 a month with a floor of R3 500, which is based on the National Minimum Wage.

Nearly 7 million workers have been paid TERS so far at the cost of R34 billion to the government, the Department of Employment and Labour has also indicated that applications for April and May will be closed off at the end of July 2020. This decision is likely to cause a lot unhappiness as thousands of qualifying workers including many FEDUSA affiliated members could not access their TERS for the entire period due to a range of problems including declarations that were made by employers but could not go through the SIYAYA system for verification and the non-registration of vulnerable employees such as domestic workers and taxi drivers.

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For interviews please contact:

Ms Riefdah Ajam

FEDUSA General Secretary

079 696 2625

Issued by:

Frank Nxumalo

FEDUSA Media and Research Officer

072 637 8096