EOHCB: COIDA – Who Must Register for COIDA?

COIDA – Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act

If you have one or more employees you are required to register with the Compensation Fund to take insurance cover against your employees in the event of injuries and diseases in your workplace.

Who is an employer

"employer" means any person, including the State, who employs an employee; and includes

any person controlling the business of an employer;
if the services of an employee are lent or let or temporarily made available to some other person by his employer, such employer for such period as the employee works for that other person;
a labour broker (Temporary employment services) who against payment provides a person to a client for the rendering of a service or the performance of work, and for which service or work such person is paid by the labour broker;

Who is an employee

"employee" means a person

who has entered into or works under a contract of service; or
of apprenticeship or learnership, with an employer;
whether the contract is express or implied, oral or in writing; and
whether the remuneration is calculated by time or by work done; or
is in cash or in kind.

Includes–

a casual employee employed for the purpose of the employer's business;
a director or member of a body corporate who has entered into a contract of service or of apprenticeship or learnership with the body corporate, in so far as he acts within the scope of his employment in terms of such contract;
a person provided by a labour broker against payment to a client for the rendering of a service or the performance of work, and for which service or work such person is paid by the labour broker;
in the case of a deceased employee, his dependants, and in the case of an employee who is a person under disability, a curator acting on behalf of that employee.

Does not include -

a person performing military service or undergoing training and who is not a member of the Permanent Force of the South African Defence Force;
a member of the Permanent Force of the South African Defence Force;
a member of the South African Police Force;
a person who contracts for the carrying out of work and himself engages other persons to perform such work.

What about domestic employees employed in a private household?

Domestic employees initially remained excluded from the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act, 1993. This meant that domestic workers were not entitled to compensation for disablement caused by occupational injuries or diseases sustained or contracted by them in the course of their employment however in the Amendment Act the definition of an employee now includes employees employed in a private household.

Domestic workers (which includes part-time and full-time employees as well as gardeners) are therefore now covered under the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Amendment Act and can claim compensation for injuries or diseases sustained while on duty from the Compensation Fund. The change to the Act now places an obligation on employers of domestic employees to register as employers with the Compensation Fund to submit the necessary returns and pay an annual fee as is required by COIDA.

In the interim, domestic employees who had any accident that had occurred prior to the commencement of the Amendment Act must report or submit a claim in the prescribed manner within three years from the date of the commencement of the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Amendment Act, 2022.

For any further information or enquiries please contact the EOHCB representative in your area by clicking HERE.