Every month a portion of your hard-earned salary is paid over to the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF). But have you ever stopped to think what you would do should you be unable to claim your money from the fund?
This is exactly what has happened to Bernadette Durrell, a Florida resident who has been working and contributing to the UIF since 1995.
Bernadette was diagnosed with cancer in 2004, and again in 2009, but kept working throughout her treatments. But, when the cancer spread in 2014, she was placed on temporary incapacity leave and paid 75 per cent of her salary.
In 2016, she was medically boarded, and it was brought to her attention that she could apply for UIF benefits. So, in January she went to the Labour Offices and submitted her application. She did a follow-up on the application’s progress, and was told it had been declined, and she should lodge an appeal, which she did. She went back on a monthly basis until the end of July and was told the same story every time. She also followed the same procedure every time she made a follow-up, waiting in line for more than five hours, completing an appeal form and receiving a date to come back. On 1 August she visited the offices again and after waiting in line for a long time, was told to go to the top floor of the building. On her arrival there, she was faced with extremely long queues, and decided to leave.
“My back and feet were aching after the long wait. Why do government staff think they are doing us a favour? Why do they do this to innocent, honest people? How many other people are also battling with this?” asked a frustrated Bernadette.
Bernadette has since been in contact with the complaints department and is doing daily follow-ups. As she is very ill at the moment and undergoing radiation therapy, she asked the Record not to place her photo.
Bernadette is not the only one complaining about the UIF. Christo Reef’s wife applied for UIF benefits when she fell pregnant, making sure everything was completed and submitted. Unfortunately, she lost the baby few weeks later, and needed some time to recover. Her return trip to the UIF offices left her feeling traumatised as she was told her first application had been done incorrectly, and that she needed to start the process again, from scratch. When she told the officials she’d had a miscarriage, they did not believe her and insisted she go back to the doctor for a report before resubmitting her application. Christo felt his wife was treated with disrespect and said, “They do what they want and when you say something they delay your claim.”
The UIF complaints department has been contacted for comment, but at the time of publication of this article, none had been received.
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