COID
Earnings
Attached please find the “Return of Earnings” ROE guidelines which explains what is earnings for purposes of completing the ROE.
The COID Act uses ‘remuneration’ in its definition of ‘earnings’, being –
“… the remuneration of an employee at the time of the accident or the commencement of the occupational disease as calculated in this Act.”
Remuneration is not defined, but is “… calculated in terms of this Act.”. Section 63 that deals with the calculation of earnings, is of no help. It seems that the W.As 8 form that must be completed by employers for their annual return contains the most practical and up to date information to help us to find out what remuneration is.
The W.As 8 form states that ‘earnings’ are all payments that are made regularly, before any deductions, in cash or in kind, and to employees. It then lists a number of items that are included in earnings, and a number that are excluded, and qualifies this by stating that the list is not exhaustive.
Included in gross earnings are the following:
• overtime of a regular nature;
• bonuses of any kind;
• commission (UIF take note!);
• cash value of food & quarters, company car, free or cheap accommodation;
• travel and other allowances paid regularly;
• the employee’s package, excluding employer contributions such as medical aid;
• earnings/drawings paid to working directors and members.
Excluded from gross earnings are the following:
• payments of a reimbursive nature;
• overtime worked occasionally;
• payments for non recurring tasks that are not part of the employee’s normal duties;
• ex gratia payments;
• intangible fringe benefits such the medical aid benefit;
• special expenses such as subsistence and travel costs, lunch, meetings etc.;
• travel and other allowances paid occasionally;
• if a director’s remuneration is profit share, the director is not included by the Act.
Some comments on these inclusions and exclusions –
• The principle is that regular items are included and irregular items are excluded;
• Another principle is that tangible (things you can touch) payments in kind (benefits and employer contributions) are included; intangible payments in kind are excluded;
• The inclusion of travel and other allowances paid regularly is in conflict with the labour law principle that allowances, whether regular or not, are payments to allow work to take place and are not included in an employee’s BCEA remuneration;
• One can only assume that all employer contributions are excluded, not only those made to a medical aid. Again, this in conflict with the BCEA, which includes all these ‘payments in kind’ to benefit and retirement funds into BCEA remuneration.
Earnings up to the maximum of the COID limit must be declared per employee at the end of each year (February), and this maximum earnings amount is included in the totals on the W.As 8 return form.
The definition of remuneration for the CF will in the future be the same as the definition of remuneration for UIF, with the same exclusions, except that commission is excluded from UIF but will be included for CF. The COID Amendment Bill is final but has not yet been promulgated, so it is not yet in effect (maybe sometime in 2023?). So currently we must still use ‘earnings’ while knowing that ‘remuneration’ is around the corner.
When ‘remuneration’ replaces ‘earnings’ down the line (with the promulgation of the Amendment Bill), it will be a radical change. Employers will be informed that it is a radical but necessary change, and their assessment could go either up or down in the future depending on the circumstances.
Also note that the fund has recently changed the ‘risk’ percentages per sector type (in many cases reducing the percentages) therefore a lower assessment value.
Tips
1. Be consistent:
Recommend the same thing for all of your clients
2. Don’t change now:
Unless there is good reason, don’t change from what you have been advising in the past. Keep doing what you have been doing unless you are certain that it is incorrect.
3. This last point is for you to decide.
Knowing that remuneration will replace earnings at some stage in the future, if you are uncertain of whether a remuneration type is ‘earnings’ or not, consider including it now as ‘earnings’ if it is currently ‘remuneration’. Then you will be moving in the right direction.

Employer
The Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act defines an employer as:
“any person, including the state, who employs an employee, and includes –
• any person controlling the business of an employer
• if the services of an employee are lent or let or temporarily made available to some other person by his employer, such employer for such period as the employee works for that other person
• a labour broker who against payment provides a person to a client for the rendering of a service or the performance of work, and for which service or work such person is paid by the labour broker.”
This definition, as in the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, is dependent on the existence of an employee. Further –
1. The first bullet brings in the concept of representative employers as in the Fourth schedule.
2. The second bullet seems to specify that where a ‘casual’ arrangement has been made for an employee to work for another employer, then the employer where the employee works becomes the responsible employer.
3. The third bullet provides that a labour broker is the employer of a worker supplied by the labour broker to a client and is responsible under the Act for that worker.
Employee
An employee is defined as:
“ … a person who has entered into or works under a contract of service or of apprenticeship or learnership, with an employer, … and whether the remuneration is calculated by time or by work done, or is in cash or kind, and includes:
• a casual employee employed for the purpose of the employer’s business;
• a director or member … who has entered into a contract … in so far he acts within the scope of … such contract;
• a person provided by a labour broker … for the rendering of a service or the performance of work, and for which … such person is paid by the labour broker;
• in the case of a deceased employee, his dependants, …”
Excluded as employees are:
• persons undergoing military service or training
• members of the Permanent Force while defending the Republic
• members of the Police Force while defending the Republic
• a person who contracts for the carrying out of work and himself contracts other persons to perform such work
• a domestic employee in a private household.
Being an Act administered by the Department of Labour, one can safely assume that the reference to working under “… a contract of service …“ as opposed to a contract for services, is intended to exclude labour law independent contractors. See the paragraph which deals with contracts of service in the BCEA Chapter of this manual.
Learners working in terms of a learnership agreement are specifically included, irrespective of whether they have an employment contract or not.
Incorrect classification
Where an employer is incorrectly classified for COID purposes due to the online registration functionality which do not allow the correct sub-class selection, the employer may completed the attached CF-1B (Application for the Change of the Nature of Business) form and mail it to [email protected] and [email protected] for correction.
Evidence should also be forwarded with the completed forms.
The industry classifications are also attached in order to ensure that the correct sub-class is selected.
Incorrect assessment rate applied by COID
Where an incorrect assessment was applied by the COID Commissioner due to the incorrect classification of the employer due to the online registration functionality which do not allow the correct sub-class selection, the employer may completed the attached CF-1B (Application for the Change of the Nature of Business) form and attached CF-2B (Application for Revision of the Assessment Form) and mail it to [email protected] and [email protected] for correction.
Evidence should also be forwarded with the completed forms.
The industry classifications are also attached in order to ensure that the correct sub-class is selected.