Dear Employer

COID Benefit Increase

The Minister of Employment and Labour, announced an amendment on Schedule 4 of COIDA, which provides guidance on the new way of calculating pension lump sums and monthly pension benefits made available to injured employees who have had accidents on or after the 1st of April 2019.
This amendment requires RMA to implement an increase in the monthly Constant Attendance Allowance (CAA) benefit as well as the Permanent Disability (PD) lump sums and Permanent Disability (PD) monthly pensions.

What has changed?

The new way of calculation includes the use of actual earnings for PD lump sums and PD monthly pensions and an increase in minimum and maximum compensation.

How does this impact Class IV and Class XII employees?

  • When using the actual earnings, and if the employee’s benefit amount is lower than the minimum compensation amount prescribed by the Act, RMA will pay the minimum amount to the employee. This rule applies to both PD lump sums and PD monthly pensions.
  • For the employee whose benefits are capped to the maximum compensation, RMA will ensure that an affected employee is not negatively impacted, provided that the employer has signed up for our value-added Non-COID products such as the Augmentation benefit.

Implementation of Schedule 4 of COIDA 

  • The new and backdated payment for the CAA benefit will be implemented on the 20th of November 2020 with the November month pension run.
  • The new minimum and maximum compensation based on the actual accident earnings at the time of the accident will be implemented for all new disablement benefits both PD lump sums and PD monthly pensions effective on the 24th of November 2020.
  • The new minimum and maximum compensation based on the actual accident earnings at the time of the accident will be implemented for all existing disablement benefits where the accident happened on or after the 1st of April 2019 to the 24th of November 2020.

 

This means that RMA will do a once-off back-payment to all affected beneficiaries.

We are in support of the newly gazetted legislation for Schedule 4 of the COID Act, and believe that it will ensure that beneficiaries and their families receive the care and compensation they are entitled to when they have sustained either a work-related injury or occupational disease.

You can access the recommended COID benefits here and our Employer Guide is available here to assist you when reporting occupational injuries and disease claims. 

 

Regards

RMA