Can an Employee Who Absconded Still Withdraw Their PF? Seeking HR Insights

Hi members! We have an employee who absconded from the services about 2 months ago. The person has now approached the HR department for withdrawal of PF. I wanted to know:

1. Is the person eligible for withdrawing PF even if the person has absconded from the services of the company?
2. Does the company have an obligation to sign and stamp the withdrawal forms for an absconded employee?

Kindly share your views and inputs as this will help my team in making a decision.

Regards,
Niki

Dear Niki,

Questions to Consider Regarding Employee Absconding

How many months/years did this employee work in your company? Do you have any signed agreement with the employee on the notice period clause? If he has absconded from work, have you issued a show cause notice to him? These are some of the questions you may need to answer.

Handling Provident Fund (PF) Withdrawal

As for the PF, you can delay it but cannot deny it. The PF money is already deposited by your firm against each employee's account at EPFO. So, your denying to sign on it will not get you that money. Yes, if you have an agreement which deals with termination of service/resignation and notice period, the employee is liable to pay for the notice period.

You may call on him to discuss this matter with the employee. As I said earlier, you can delay the PF amount...but cannot deny.

Regards,
Arun