Question:
My grant father was employed at a public school for the period 1960 - 1993 in the Northern Cape Province. On retirement he only received a gold watch and his accumulated leave money with no pension payout. On enquiry to the Dept of Education he was informed then that he was a temporary contract worker. He still have old pay envelopes which indicate the deduction of pension from his salary. Any advice welcome
Answer:
Frank, Either your father was a pension fund member, in which case he should have received a pension, or the pension contributions were deducted incorrectly, in which case he should have these contributions returned to him, at least with nominal interest. It seems implausible that your father was a temporary contract worker for 33 years. Contract workers also do not receive a gold watch when they leave, and they do not accumulate leave pay (they are paid for the work they do). That is the whole point of working on contract rather than as an employee. After 33 years, even if his formal status was initially that of a contract work, he was, in substance, a permanent employee, as suggested by the pension fund contributions and his gold watch.
The deduction on his pay-slip mislead him into believing that he did not need to provide for his own pension. The question is: who do you claim this money from. If you could prove that the money went into say, the Government Employees Pension Fund, then you would have to approach them, possibly with the help of the Pension Funds Adjudicator. But if the pension contribution was never forwarded to them, then the Dept. of Education would be at fault, and you would have to sue them. But chances are that the claim would then have prescribed. In any event, you would probably need to the services of a lawyer, to make your claim.
