Domestic workers included in new COID Bill

Domestic workers included in new COID Bill

Business, Employment Equity, Legislation

On 10 September 2020 the Minister of Employment and Labour introduced the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Amendment Bill to Parliament. Most noticeable of the amendments is the change to the existing definition of an “employee” to include (as opposed to exclude) domestic workers. Currently, domestic workers and gardeners are not included in the definition of an employee in the COID Act and can only claim against the Unemployment Insurance Fund.

While it is nice to see this from an equity perspective, we are concerned with the practical implementation of this change. It is unlikely domestic employers will be able to manage the challenges dealing with the compensation fund nor will the Compensation fund be able to manage the additional 5 million new employers that would need to be included. Most likely this is going to result in further tension between employers and employees…

To view the Bill, follow the link.