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As a large organisation and a public body that determines its suppliers through a tender system, NSSA from time to time places advertisements in newspapers inviting companies to tender applications to supply it with the goods and services it needs.

Naturally a standard requirement for a company’s application to be considered is compliance with their legal obligation to remit to NSSA contributions to the national pension and other benefits fund and the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Fund.
That is where many companies that might otherwise stand a good chance of securing a supplier’s contract with NSSA fall down.
The first tender condition advertised by NSSA is generally that bidders must be registered companies contributing to the NSSA pension schemes and must attach to their bid a clearance certificate from NSSA.

Companies that fail to comply with their legal obligation to remit contributions to NSSA are, therefore, not only potentially disadvantaging their employees and contravening the law but also denying themselves business opportunities, should NSSA have need of the products or services they provide.
There is nothing to stop non-compliant companies rectifying the position by becoming compliant, if they are able to do that before the closing date for bids. This may, of course, involve not only paying all outstanding contributions but non-compliance penalties as well.

If they are unable to become compliant before the closing date, it will still be worth their becoming compliant, so that they can make a bid the next time a similar tender comes up and avoid the possibility of incurring legal penalties, which could include financial penalties, garnishing orders, court appearances and the attachment of property.
If they have been deducting contributions from their employees but failing to remit them to NSSA they could also face charges of theft or fraud.
Compliance is also important because non-compliance disadvantages their employees. If, for instance, contributions have not been made to the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Fund and an employee is injured at work the employee is not insured.

If on the other hand contributions have been made, the insurance fund will cover the employee, paying for medical and rehabilitation expenses and compensation for loss of earnings. The employer is spared having to compensate the employee directly.
Employees are becoming increasingly concerned that their NSSA pension and other benefits may be jeopardised by the failure of their employer to register them or remit their contributions to NSSA.
Employees have written into this column asking how they can check on whether their employers are remitting the contributions being deducted from their salaries.

Some have followed the advice to telephone NSSA head office, ask for Central Registry, supply their national identity number and request their national social security number, following which they can also enquire whether their current employer is making remittances to NSSA.
If there is no registration number for them or their employer has not been making remittances they can seek the assistance of NSSA’s compliance department.

Some readers of this column wrote in giving the full name and address of their company and stated that contributions were being deducted from their wages but not being forwarded to NSSA. This was passed onto NSSA’s compliance department, which visited the company, ascertained that this was indeed the case and levied penalties on the company, which have to be paid in addition to the contribution arrears.

Employers who are not complying with their legal obligations in respect of contributions to NSSA should be warned that employees are now taking a more active role in trying to find out whether contributions are being remitted and ensuring that they are remitted.
At a recent meeting NSSA held with trade union members, suggestions were put forward by trade union representatives that workers’ committees should become actively involved in ensuring employers complied with their NSSA obligations and that a bulletin should be issued periodically listing compliant companies, so employees could see whether or not their employers were among them.

The benefits that accrue to members of the national pension fund go beyond their retirement pension. In the event of their death, their surviving spouse or other relative is able to receive a survivor’s pension. The person responsible for the funeral is paid a funeral grant of $200, which is paid on the spot while they wait, provided they have the necessary documentation.
So employers who fail to register their employees or remit contributions may be jeopardising not only their employees’ pension but benefits their families could receive in the event of their death.

They also leave themselves open to legal penalties and criminal charges and preclude themselves from doing business with NSSA as suppliers to what is a large institution.

The Talking Social Security Column is published each week by the National Social Security Authority as a public service. Readers who have any questions they would like dealt with in this column are welcome to e?mail their questions to [email protected] or send an SMS to 0772 307 913. Those who have individual queries they would like addressed directly should contact their local NSSA office or telephone NSSA on (04) 706517-8 or 706523-5.