I know I know that a baby shower post should be here instead of a UIF post, but I received SO much that I am still going through it properly and taking photo’s to blog about it. I promise one will follow but to me this is more important and I hope I can help other moms-to-be out there by making the UIF process painless and also prepare others on exactly what they need.

My wonderful friend Boobahsmom also had issues and needed to take a day off to get all her stuff in order for the Labour Department. She sent me a link that had instructions on everything I needed. I was shocked to see that there was more on there than I originally thought but was so grateful I had these instructions and felt confident that all would be good. So I gathered what I needed and headed to the Labour department at some ungodly hour to queue and submit my forms. When I arrived there the lady told me that I was still missing stuff. My bank form was not right as the bank needed to confirm my ID number as well as I needed to do so on the form because of fraud. Understandable. My company form was not right either as they needed to state that I would be earning nothing from them while on leave and not just leave this blank. Understandable as well. Also I needed a contract or letter of some sort to confirm I worked at my previous companies for the time provided even though they had filled and signed the official form the Labour department said they must. Understandable, but now I am getting irritated.

Basically after leaving them and getting my company to complete the form properly, go to the bank and fix that form and then find my letter of appointment from my old company stating my contract dates, I thought I was good to go. Nope. I went back to them with everything for the lady to look at me and say, “Oops, I didn’t see you only going on Maternity leave in a month, it is too early to submit”. Me, “But it says I must submit 8 weeks in advance”. Her, “Oh ja, it has changed. You must only submit the day you leave work” Me, “Lady, I leave work and then have my baby 3 days later! You now expect me to come here then?!?” Her, “Yes, sorry”.

So basically here is my guide to getting your UIF right so that you don’t have to go through what I did. I know there are agencies/companies out there that do this for you but some can’t afford them or prefer to do it themselves like me.

You will need:

1. Form UI-2.3 filled in by you and your doctor accompanied by a business card from your Doc. Also insure you have their practice number AS WELL as their MP number.

2. Form UI-1.9 filled in by your current employer as well as all the employers you previously worked for over the past 4 years. Also get a letter/copy of a contract stating the dates you worked there from your previous employers as proof that you worked there as sometimes it does not reflect on the Labour Department’s system despite paying UIF. This happened to me.

3. Form UI-2.8 filled in by you and your bank. Ensure it is the form that has your ID no. on both the banks side of the application as well as the side you need to fill in. They need the bank to verify your ID number because of fraud. Also ensure there are NO mistakes on this form as the Labour department will reject it. No scratching out and re-writing either is accepted.

4. Form UI-2.7 filled in by your current employer. If you are not getting any maternity pay ensure they state this as this can not be filled in after by you. If the handwriting or pressure of pen is different they will also reject it. Also ensure your company stamp is on this form. The stamp must have the physical address on it.

5. One (1) months bank statement with an official bank stamp on each page.

6. Your ID book and a certified copy just in case.

7. YOU DO NOT NEED COPIES OF FORM UI-4 AS THEY WILL PROVIDE WITH THEM BECAUSE THEY ARE YELLOW AND CANT ACCEPT WHITE ONES (like I had)

Once you have all these forms filled out just like this you should be sorted. I advise that you rather go to the Labour department and get all the forms from them personally. I downloaded some of them from their website and they were still wrong as some have been updated at the offices and not on the site. Get double copies from them as well just in case you make a mistake because remember THEY DON’T ACCEPT FORMS ON WITH ANY MISTAKES OR CROSSING OUT AND REWRITING.

Now to avoid being all prepared and then getting turned down, only go apply a week before you set to leave for maternity leave. Even though their site and your HR department might say go 8 weeks before, don’t listen to them. I went and got turned down. Also, make copies of all the forms you have filled out as they also have this not-so-great habit of losing forms, so have back up. I would even go as far as getting these copies certified at a police station to prove to them that they did exist and that you are not committing fraud as this seems to be a big issue.

After you have submitted these forms, the money will be deposited into your account approximately 4 weeks later (I will confirm this once I see my money in my account). Then you need to go back exactly a month later every month to re-submit a form (that they will issue you on application) to ensure you get paid monthly. So for example: if your first payment was received on 30 August, then you need to go back on 30 September to submit the next form for the next payment until the end.

Hope this helps others out there