Namibia Launches New Labour Insurance

May 12 - A monthly premium of just $40 can help workers with the huge costs involved in settling labour disputes, it was revealed this week.

Prosperity Insurance, a Windhoek based insurance company, launched PayBuoy, with the intention of covering typical labour situation costs, and tailored especially to assist workers such as domestics, gardeners or office workers.

Should workers require assistance in case of redundancies, retrenchment or professional consultations, Prosperity Insurance's new product will be their lifeline.

"With the introduction of the amended labour law, labour disputes have been taken from courts to the labour offices where they belong," said Hannes Kaufmann, the Business Development Manager at Prosperity Insurance.

Nevertheless, the Labour Commission will now be flooded with cases, and consultants come with hefty service fees.

This is where the new PayBuoy insurance product can assist workers.

"We have positioned PayBuoy to fit below available legal insurance and have it made extremely affordable for any worker," said Kaufmann.

The biggest breakthrough in this product is that it covers the informal employment sector in Namibia as well, such as casual farm hands.

"Many of these employees continually face human rights violations and undesirable conditions but have nowhere to turn," said Kaufmann. "They cannot afford to pay for advice and many do not have an opportunity to seek help. They fear their jobs will be in jeopardy should they speak out and tolerate the unfavourable conditions for the sake of employment."