On Friday, 4 September 2020, the Director-General of the Department of Employment and Labour, Mr Thobile Lamati, announced that the TERS Directive published on 11 August 2020 shall be extended to 15 September 2020.

This means that the TERS benefit shall remain available for the categories of employees specified in the 11 August Directive, namely those whose employers are:

  • not yet permitted to commence operations, either partially or in full, as a result of the Regulations published in terms of the Disaster Management Act, 2002, such as restaurants and gyms;
  • unable to implement special measures in respect of vulnerable employees, or to make alternative arrangements for them to work from home; and
  • unable to make use of the employees’ services either fully or partially because of operational requirements, in particular, the need to limit the number of employees at the workplace through rostering, staggering of working hours, short time, and the introduction of shift systems.

In terms of the Director-General’s announcement, applications for April to July 2020 will close on 15 September 2020 and no late applications will be considered. Applications for TERS benefits in respect of August and up to 15 September 2020 will close on 30 October 2020. Should any of these dates change, we will publish a follow-up newsflash.

The Direction extending the 11 August 2020 Directive has not yet been published. Once received we will circulate.