The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) has urged companies to make sure they obtain a compliance certificate or risk being excluded from doing business with government.

All government departments and most state owned entities require a UIF compliance certificate from potential service providers who want to do business with them.

If a company fails to provide the certificate, it can be disqualified from doing business with government. It is very important to comply with UIF, said Compliance Director Malesela Makgamatho.

Addressing a seminar of 500 employers and stakeholders in Sandton on Thursday, Makgamatho explained that the compliance certificate could be refused by the Fund for various reasons, including failing to pay contributions on time to the UIF.

If we decline your application for a compliance certificate, we will explain the reasons in the rejection letter and outline the steps you must take in order to qualify, he said.

Turning the focus to unemployment benefits, the UIF stressed that it was illegal for workers to draw unemployment benefits from UIF while they were employed.

It is a fraudulent offence in terms our legislations to draw unemployment benefit from the Fund while you are employed.

The Fund said the major cause that led to employed people getting benefits they were not supposed to, was due to non-compliance by employers who fail to declare the information of their workers to the Fund.

Those who continued to draw unemployment benefits while employed could be banned from receiving any UIF benefits for up to five years, it said.

Source: South African Government News Agency