Disaster for domestic workers in South Africa

Compulsory UIF and CIODA registration is what is killing the domestic worker market. It's got nothing to do with anti-foreigner marches. For decades the informality of employing a domestic worker is what made the arrangement work. Then along came the ANC and insisted that domestic employers be treated the same as business employers, and then the informality of the arrangement disappeared and domestic employers said "**** that" and now we are where we are. Well done ANC. Domestic workers now have UIF and COIDA protection, but no jobs. What a win.
 
ANC excellence has paved the way for contract labour brokers, much easy to get someone from a labour brokers to work for you both domestically and commercially. Lot of companies are now replacing employees who leave with labour broker placements, another ANC win.
 
deweyzeph said:
Compulsory UIF and CIODA registration is what is killing the domestic worker market. It's got nothing to do with anti-foreigner marches. For decades the informality of employing a domestic worker is what made the arrangement work. Then along came the ANC and insisted that domestic employers be treated the same as business employers, and then the informality of the arrangement disappeared and domestic employers said "**** that" and now we are where we are. Well done ANC. Domestic workers now have UIF and COIDA protection, but no jobs. What a win.
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It isn't even that.

It is quite simple - Cost of living crisis. Middle income households increasingly cannot afford the luxury of having domestic workers, and where they do, many are scaling back on the amount of days they have a domestic worker.

I'm a peasant, so I clean my own home, but my parents are middle income and they have cut their domestic from 3 days/week to 2, and my mom is considering going down to 1 day/week. And when their domestic retires - she has been with them for over 20-years - she won't be replaced. And the reason for all of this is because my parents can't really afford it anymore, but they don't have the heart to dismiss her, so they will let her stick around until she is ready to retire.
 
The anc wanted to, and still wants to break the white economy. They have done fairly well by force but they have trashed their "own people's" economy.

This falls on the anc and all their supporters and voters over the past three plus decades.
 
Even if I can afford a domestic the chance that if something goes wrong and you are taken to CCMA you always going to be the loser because workers are too protected.
 
deweyzeph said:
Compulsory UIF and CIODA registration is what is killing the domestic worker market.
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UIF and COIDA has always been there. It was either never enforced or the workers themselves were not aware of their rights.

deweyzeph said:
For decades the informality of employing a domestic worker is what made the arrangement work. Then along came the ANC and insisted that domestic employers be treated the same as business employers, and then the informality of the arrangement disappeared and domestic employers said "**** that" and now we are where we are. Well done ANC.
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The problem here was the assumption of the informality of the employment. Labor Relations Act provides clear criteria which defines an Employee and this specific section of legislation has been around for over 20 years, so it is nothing new.

One would then say the COIDA and UIF requirement has been in place for as long, just nobody enforced it, or perhaps knew about it.

deweyzeph said:
Domestic workers now have UIF and COIDA protection, but no jobs. What a win.
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Nothing unfair about this. With COIDA, if a domestic falls down someone's stairs and becomes paralyzed, would the owner of the house have a few 100k to pay them? Probably not, at least not all. In a more minor case, let's say they slip and break their ankle, will the owner pay them for everyday they are not at work and also compensate them for the homes they were supposed to have worked at.

This is why COIDA is needed, not only to protect you from a law suite but also the employee from loss of income. This is also not a major cost (R1450 a year for a 5 day domestic earning R400 a day) so I do not believe it is the reason, people just don't want to deal with the admin.
 
acidrain said:
UIF and COIDA has always been there. It was either never enforced or the workers themselves were not aware of their rights.


The problem here was the assumption of the informality of the employment. Labor Relations Act provides clear criteria which defines an Employee and this specific section of legislation has been around for over 20 years, so it is nothing new.

One would then say the COIDA and UIF requirement has been in place for as long, just nobody enforced it, or perhaps knew about it.


Nothing unfair about this. With COIDA, if a domestic falls down someone's stairs and becomes paralyzed, would the owner of the house have a few 100k to pay them? Probably not, at least not all. In a more minor case, let's say they slip and break their ankle, will the owner pay them for everyday they are not at work and also compensate them for the homes they were supposed to have worked at.

This is why COIDA is needed, not only to protect you from a law suite but also the employee from loss of income. This is also not a major cost (R1450 a year for a 5 day domestic earning R400 a day) so I do not believe it is the reason, people just don't want to deal with the admin.
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Agreed on the above but UIF has been made infinitely easier to administrate via company accounting software modules
Companies can also deduct COIDA from taxable income

If you want compliance to increase, why not make it easier for Joseph Soap to register UIF/COIDA etc on a single platform (SARS E-Filing maybe?) AND ensure private domestic employers receive tax rebates for domestic employment & compliance?
 
Mista_Mobsta said:
Agreed on the above but UIF has been made infinitely easier to administrate via company accounting software modules
Companies can also deduct COIDA from taxable income

If you want compliance to increase, why not make it easier for Joseph Soap to register UIF/COIDA etc on a single platform (SARS E-Filing maybe?) AND ensure private domestic employers receive tax rebates for domestic employment & compliance?
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Agree completely, but I would extend it to all domestic work, like gardening, au pairing, elderly care etc.

If a business employs a worker to do these things, it is 100% deductible on their income as a business. If you do it privately, you cannot.

The law already recognises anyone who employs someone like a domestic worker as an employer, therefore they should be taxed like a business for that purpose.

You can balance it out by making the benefit only apply under certain conditions:
1) They cannot be a family member.
2) They have to have an employment contract longer than 6 months.
3) The employer needs to provide primary care insurance for them. Like dischem's option:
4) Employer has to obviously register for UIF and Workmans comp.
5) Employer has to abide by all health and safety regulations.
 
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