Retrenched and still no pension for us
2005-04-28
I worked at Court Fabrics in Paarl for three years. When Court closed its doors on 15 December due to “empty order books”, we received retrenchment pay, but no pension payouts.
According to management, the pension and provident funds must now be “partially” liquidated and we will have to wait a year for our money. This we only heard three months after the closure.
How are we to survive? I’m 53 and no-one will employ me.
C Burger
Kevin Wright, group managing director of Courthiel Holdings replies: It is indeed regrettable that the former employee finds herself in a position to write such a letter as it reflects much of the despair and desperation of many former employees of the South African textile industry.
Much has been written in the press regarding the threat posed by cheap imports into South Africa and the impact of the strong rand on our export markets. The closure of Court Fabrics in Paarl was a direct consequence of these two ingredients.
However we have undertaken to re-deploy assets to some of our group companies spread throughout South Africa.
Upon learning that the closure of Court would require that the pension fund would have to be liquidated, in terms of the Financial Services Board rules, we immediately notified all employees of this development.
The liquidation process is not something we as a company can control. The process is entirely in the hands of the liquidator and the FSB.
We only received final confirmation of the requirement to “partially liquidate” the Provident Fund (restricted to the monthly paid employees) in March.
Upon learning of this we proceeded to notify the affected personnel. This late development is regrettable, as we did think that the Provident Fund benefits could be paid within six to eight weeks.
As a service to the employees we have applied to the tax authorities for the IT3, tax exemption for retrenchments.
This application would ensure that all monies received as part of the retrenchments package (including Pension and Provident payments) would be taxed after all allowable deductions (first R30 000 of severance pay tax free) had been applied, effectively saving on tax and resulting in more take home pay.
The Paarl and Wellington region has been affected by several retrenchments and business closures over the last two to three years. As a company trading in the textile industry we do not easily retrench or close businesses, before studying workable alternatives thoroughly.
We understand the effect these decisions have on our employees, their families and indeed the communities they live in.
In pursuing our efforts to close Court Fabrics we made every effort to be substantively fair to all employees, along with ensuring that we obeyed all the regulatory requirements imposed on us as employers.
More
News
|
