A Brief Retrospective On Two Cases About UIF And Asylum Seekers

Introduction

The end of February 2020 marks the anniversary of an important court victory which confirmed the rights of asylum seekers to access benefits from the Unemployment Insurance Fund ("UIF"). This is therefore an opportune moment to reflect on that case, as well as a preceding case which took a different approach to dealing with the same problem.

Background

In a nutshell, asylum seekers were previously excluded from claiming UIF benefits despite having made contributions to the Fund during the course of their employment. This was occasioned by an exclusionary statutory requirement that claimants seeking UIF benefits were required to provide identity or passport numbers – which asylum seekers, by virtue of their status as such, do not ordinarily possess.