The Samoa National Provident Fund is a
compulsory savings scheme to which each employee and employer contributes an
amount equivalent to 5 percent of the employee's salary and wages. An
employee is:
- any person under a contract of service, apprenticeship or learnship, a
contract of manual labour( including office, factory or outdoor work
either individually or as part of a gang and domestic work
- any resident of Samoa employed outside of Samoa by an employer having
a place of business in Samoa
- any resident of Samoa employed under a contract of service entered
into in Samoa as a master or crew member of a vessel or as captain or crew
member of any aircraft, the owner of which has aplace of business in Samoa
Membership in the NPF provides the following benefits to the employee
- annual interest on the employee's contributions balance at the
beginning of the year
- when the contributions reach a balance of $500 or more, the employee
can apply for a member's loan amount equivalent to 45% of the employee's
contribution balance at an annual rate of 12%
- employee can qualify for a residential loanof not less than $50,000 to
build a house on the employee's freehold land
- death benefit of not less than $2,300 if the member dies before
attaining 55 years of age
- employee's contribution are tax free
- employee's contributions are not subject to sequestration
An employee can withdraw from the NPF scheme in the following
circumstances:
- attainment of the age of 55 years
- unemployed for at least 5 years and person has not reached the age of
50 years
- physical and/or mental incapacitated
- permanent resident in another overseas country
- entering a theological college
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The ACB scheme is funded by a 1% levy on
the employers based on the salary/wage of the employee.The scheme has been
set up to meet the costs of claims from wage and salary earners and their
dependents in respect of accidents at work or while travelling to work.The
two main aims of ACB are to
- help as much as it can towards the rehab of those physically injured
by accidents at work or while travelling to work
- provide financial compensation to persons affected as a consequence of
an accident
- PLEASE NOTE: Accidents at home, sports and recreation injuries and
those that occur in self employment are covered by the ACB
All salary and wage earners are covered by the ACB
scheme for
- work related accidents during work
- specified conveyance accidents (ie motor vehicles, planes, boat
accidents 24 hours a day (also includes all other persons- including
visitors from overseas to some extent)
The ACB benefits include the following:
- medical expenses- covering reasonable expenses for medical,
dental,surgical, first aid and for maintenance as a patient in hospital
- transport expenses for initial medical treatment and subsequent
medical attention
- loss of earnings- covering 60% of weekly earnings with a ceiling of
$100 per weeek which is non-taxable and maybe payable for 5 years
- permanent bodily injury- lump sum for loss of part of body (eg loss of
limb, loss of teeth, or loss of bodily function (eg athrodeses, paralysis,
loss of sight, loss of finger/palm grip)
- payment for artificial limb or aid
- funeral expenses of up to $1,000
- compensation in case of death of either a lump sum of $20,000 to
dependents or weekly compensation to dependents of a deceased worker
for up to 4 years at full wages of the deceased (with a $200 a week
maximum)
- special cases in extraordinary circumstances (eg victims of a
disaster) an ex gratia payment could be made.
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