Labour minister Membathisi Mdladlana says the Unemployment Insurance (UI) Act will be amended to make it fairer to workers and easier to administer.

Addressing the Cape Town Press Club yesterday, the minister said the amendments touched upon a range of both substantive and technical issues that included the position of state pensioners and also clarified at which point individuals with multiple employers could access the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF).

The Amendment to Section 63 of the UI Act of 2001, clarifies that a worker with more than one employer will be entitled to unemployment benefits only when their overall income level falls below the benefit level that they would have received should they have become fully unemployed.

The department said amendments regarding state pensioners specified that employees who received state pensions were exempt from making UI contributions, as they were not entitled to unemployment benefits should they lose their jobs.

Other proposed amendments included the incorporation of seasonal workers into the benefit net through the deletion of the clause relating to definitions, a tightening of the definition of state officials who were not entitled to benefits and adjustments to the maternity benefit payments.

According to the department’s spokesperson Snuki Zikalala, the amendment process would start when the Act is brought before Cabinet during its meeting in Cape Town today.

Furthermore, Mdladlana expressed satisfaction with the response from the employers of domestic workers to incorporate these workers into the fund.

He said over 530 000 employers had already registered with the fund, while the number of employer declarations stood at 413 111, with a total of R8,2-million in contributions having been received.

"According to our statistics this means that over 67% of employers have registered, this level of compliance is a major victory," the minister said.

Meanwhile, Mdladlana said government would also make amendments to the law governing Sector Education and Training Authorities (Setas) in order to assist those that were struggling.

"My Department has developed a programme of action to assist those Setas who are struggling.

At the same time, we are preparing legislation to be taken to Parliament, which we trust will go a long way in improving the functioning and accountability of Setas," he said. – BuaNews.