How was FORKID used in Bitcoin Cash at the original fork point and in all upgrades since?
The purpose for "after certain time, set FORKID to 0xSMTHNG" is to keep the old chain alive but separate, in case of a bug in hard fork. After a Bitcoin Cash hardfork, let's say November 2018, if you're using an incompatible client, a client that complies with May 2018, it'll make transactions with a FORKID that starts with 0xFF00, and those transactions will be invalid in the new chain. Wallets shouldn't enforce this rule, as it is assumed that they're not nodes and they are not interested in (some of) the new consensus rules, which are usually little changes, like new opcodes.

Trivia: Bitcoin SV was derived from Bitcoin ABC complying with May 2018. If they didn't commit this, there would be replay protection.