The Points to Know and Understand Are

UNDERSTANDING WORKMAN’S COMPENSATION

The points to know and understand are:

1. The Workman’s Compensation fund is a mutual insurance scheme established in terms of the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act (COID Act) (Act130 of 1993, as amended). COID copy available on website

1. The Minister of Labour appoints the Compensation Commissioner to control and manager the compensation fund as part of the Dept of Labour

1. All Employers are to register with the Accident Fund, in the class of industry they operate, pay assessments (like insurance premiums), to submit employee earnings returns and report accidents and diseases in terms of the COID Act requirements.

1. The Accident fund pays for:

• Valid compensation claims to the injured employee or to the dependants should the employee die.
• Medical costs
• Rehabilitation costs
• Certain burial and transportation costs

1. Compensation is paid for Accidents arising out of and in the course of an employee’s employment and resulting in a personal injury, illness of death of the employee.

1. The Compensation paid varies according to the severity of the injury or disease:
2. For Temporary Disablement, salary or wages compensation is paid for the period that the employee is unfit to work, except that no payment is given for the 1st to 3rd days off, but the period off work is paid in full if off work for 4 or more days. This payment is calculated as 75% of the employee’s monthly earnings up to the allowed earnings limit, for the period unfit to work.

Note: this payment is paid to your Employer if the Employer paid the Employee a full salary/wages for the period the Employee was unfit to work

• For Permanent Disablement where the disablement severity is up to 30%, a lump sum payment of 15x the monthly earnings, up to the maximum earnings limit allowed, is made proportionally calculated to the disability percentage suffered.
• For Permanent Disablement where the disablement severity is 31% or more, a monthly pension is paid, based on 75% of the employee’s earnings, up to the allowed earnings limit with the payment proportionally calculated to the percentage disablement suffered.
• For Employee death, the widow/widower is paid a lump sum of 2x monthly pension at 100% disablement level, plus a monthly pension of 2x the monthly pension value at 1005 disablement for their life time. Children under 18 years old are entitled to a monthly pension of 20% of the monthly pension at 100%disablement level, with the widow and children compensation not totalling more than 100% disablement value.

1. A Compensation Claim can be not paid if the claim is invalid due to “Serious & Wilful Misconduct” (ie. employee intoxicated, broke H&S law or rule), the claim is over the salary/wages earnings limits or the injury occurred while outside the accident definition requirements.

1. The electronic reporting of accidents & diseases, via the Umehluko system, can be done after getting a Dept of Labour registration user name, password & authorisation key (www.labour.gov.za/DOL/) to permit one to performed online reporting & claims through the online submissions link.

THE INSTITUTE OF SAFETY MANAGEMENT, THE PROFESSIONAL BODY OF CHOICE FOR THE

DISCERNING OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY PRACTITIONER