The Department of Employment and Labour publishes contact details by function and by fund rather than through a single national switchboard. The Compensation Fund, Inspection and Enforcement Services, Employment Equity and Public Employment Services each have their own routes.
Official contact channels
- Compensation Fund: 0860 105 350 or 012 326 1570
- Compensation Fund call centre: [email protected]
- Compensation Fund enquiries: [email protected]
- Compensation Fund complaints: [email protected]
- Inspection and Enforcement Services: 0860 101 018
- Departmental fraud hotline: 0860 666 883
- National Anti-Fraud Hotline (Public Service Commission): 0800 701 701 — [email protected]
- Employment Equity: [email protected]
- Public Employment Services call centre: [email protected]
The department publishes [email protected] for password resets only, which is an unusually specific instruction and worth following literally — a general query sent there will not be actioned.
The Compensation Fund also publishes an SMS line on 44967, noting that it is a paid service.
Services and responsibilities
The department administers employment law and the associated funds. The Compensation Fund deals with injuries and diseases arising from work, the Unemployment Insurance Fund with benefits for those who have lost work, Inspection and Enforcement Services with workplace compliance, and Public Employment Services with work-seeker registration and placement.
Knowing which of these your matter belongs to is most of the battle. A claim for an injury at work is a Compensation Fund matter; an unpaid wage or an unsafe workplace is an inspection matter; a benefit after retrenchment is a UIF matter. The routes above do not overlap.
Office/address information
The Compensation Fund is located at Compensation House, 167 Thabo Sehume Street, Delta Heights Building, Pretoria, with a published fax on 0866889836. The department also operates provincial and labour centre offices — the Cape Town office is at Room 1207, 12th Floor, 120 Plein Street, Cape Town, 8000, on 021 466 7160.
The department publishes contact details for each fund and function separately because they are administered separately, often on different systems. A reference number issued by the Compensation Fund means nothing to the UIF, and vice versa, so quote the fund along with the number.
Because services are delivered through labour centres across the country, an in-person matter is generally handled at the nearest centre rather than at head office.
Applications and escalation
Have your identity number and, where relevant, the employer’s registration details and the claim or reference number. Compensation Fund matters in particular turn on the employer having registered and submitted the required reports, so an employer name and registration number will be asked for.
Use the complaints mailbox rather than the enquiries mailbox once a matter has already failed to progress, since the department publishes them separately for that reason. For suspected fraud or corruption, use the fraud hotline or the National Anti-Fraud Hotline rather than the service lines.
If a departmental matter remains unresolved, the Public Protector investigates maladministration in state institutions, and the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration handles disputes between employees and employers rather than complaints about the department itself.
Sources
Contact details on this page were checked against the Department of Employment and Labour’s own contacts page, labour.gov.za, on 30 August 2026. Details the department does not publish are not listed here.