Restaurant, hospitality sector and liquor industry staff eligible for Covid TERS

People working in the restaurant and hospitality sectors as well the liquor industry are eligible for Covid-19 temporary relief scheme (TERS) pay-outs.

This as the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) will resume with its TERS pay-outs to people affected by adjusted alert level 4 restrictions between 16 March to 25 July.

The scheme opened on Monday, for applications and was expected to start payments from July 26.

This announcement follows labour minister Thulas Nxesi signing off on the third extension of the Covid TERS benefit.

This time, however, Nxesi said payments would mostly be made directly into workers’ bank accounts and not, as previously, through their employers, unless decided otherwise by the UIF commissioner.

The application process and the documents required are the same as previously, in that, it was still expected of employers to claim on their employees’ behalf.

Acting UIF commissioner, advocate Mzie Yawa, said it was crucial for employers to provide employees’ valid and accurate details, including identity document numbers and valid bank accounts.

Yawa said the UIF preferred paying directly into employees’ bank accounts because of previous cases in which employers were unscrupulously benefiting off payments meant for their employees.

“During the previous phases, some unscrupulous employers did not transfer the funds to their employees, which is why we opted for this payment method.”

Since many workers weren’t paid, the UIF and the entire department were inundated with a lot of complaints.

“Workers could see in the system that funds had been released, but had not been paid by their employers who kept the Covid TERS funds for themselves,” said Yawa.

Earlier this year, Pretoria was found to be the city having the most cases of fraud and wrongdoing regarding Covid-19 (TERS) corruption according to a Corruption Watch report released in February.

It found that many employers received funding, but failed to pay its employees; while some companies claiming on behalf of the employees only gave them a fraction of the money due to them.

The third phase will now bring direct relief to:

– Workers who were unable to work from 16 March 2021, due to level 1, 2 and 3 restrictions preventing gatherings of a certain number of people such as in the entertainment industry;

– Workers who were and or are still impacted upon by the level 4 restrictions, which commenced on 28 June;

– Workers who have not been able to work because they are over 60 or have co-morbidities and have not been able to work in the period as well as those who have had to isolate or go into quarantine.

Qualifying sectors were identified as people offering venues hosting auctions, professional sports, where social events are held and venues hosting concerts and live performances, restaurants, the liquor industry, hospitality and tourism as well as any industries and business establishments that form part of these value chains.

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