Is It Fair for Employers to Deduct Gratuity from CTC Before 5 Years? Seeking Advice

Dear Seniors, I have a query. Is the gratuity amount, which is paid after the completion of 5 years to an employee, deducted from the CTC of the employee to make provision for payment of gratuity? In my case, my employer has deducted a certain amount towards gratuity from my CTC for the past 4 years and four months. Is this right or wrong? If it is wrong, how would I be able to claim it? Kindly reply.

Regards, Nayana

Please understand that Gratuity is not deducted from your CTC. The term CTC is no longer related to the employee. I hope you are aware that CTC stands for "Cost to the Company." Hence, the ownership of the term "CTC" lies with the employer.

Employers use the term "CTC" to determine the total cost involved in engaging an employee in a specific designation or role. To understand the total cost, they calculate all the expenses incurred for that particular designation.

Therefore, your employer includes the cost of Gratuity in the CTC to show the total cost involved. If you complete 5 years of service, then the Gratuity amount will be provided to you.

Regards,
SDK

CTC, or Cost to the Company, represents the total cost to the company of your employment. The cost towards your gratuity has been incurred by the company since your joining. The company needs to make a provision for your gratuity from the first year of your service. Therefore, the company considers this cost from the beginning. There is no wrong. Mind well, as SDK said, the CTC is not your Salary. CTC is the concept you accept at the time of negotiating your salary.

However, I suggest that employers include a footnote below the CTC structure stating that gratuity is payable to the employee upon completion of 5 years of service as per the POG Act. This will provide clarity to the employee at the time of joining.

Please let me know if you need any further clarification.

Thank you

As rightly said by other members, CTC is the "cost incurred by a company towards engaging/retaining an employee." Different companies have different components. CTC may include all monetary and non-monetary expenses and investments that a company makes on an employee.

In your case, it is necessary for you to understand that it is only a notional deduction (if it is shown in the payslip). It could be explained as the amount your company invests on a monthly basis towards your Gratuity, which the company is liable to pay when you become eligible. The only apprehension or concern is what happens if an employee leaves before completing five years of service?

Regards,
Shailesh Parikh
Vadodara, Gujarat
[Phone Number Removed For Privacy Reasons]

Important Consideration for Gratuity Payment

We must all keep in mind that 5 years of service is not required when the employee is deceased or permanently disabled from the service due to an accident or disease.

Please clarify whether any deductions are made from your monthly salary towards the contribution to Gratuity. If so, what is the amount deducted per month as per your pay slip?

Regards,
K.C.S. Kutty

Companies do deduct it from CTC, but this is not the right approach or a good company HR approach. Please refer to the Payment of Wages Act and first see what deductions are called and the legality of deducting any sum from the salary, its maximum percentage, and if under cooperatives then how much. This will give you a basic idea.

Now, deductions are accumulated for the fund, which must be a registered fund, but as such, GP fund is not a fund where the deductions can be stored; it's not legal.

And you don't have to think of rocket science, just imagine how an employer can ascertain what will be your last pay's basic + DA, on which the gratuity sums would be deducted. The funny thing is, suppose your gratuity is less than 10 lakhs, and you don't have to pay the taxes, that's what statutes say. But see if by adding such a monthly gratuity amount to CTC, you somehow fall under taxable income, then you will have to pay tax each year until you resign and finally get the gratuity. The employer will seek tax relief by showing different heads of such unlawful deductions. That's exploitation of employees.

Caution Regarding Gratuity

With reference to gratuity, I have a caution: Ensure that the collected amount is deposited by obtaining a receipt or confirmation number. If this is not done, both during the period of service and in the event of the candidate's death, the family could be deprived of the FP family pension.

Regards

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Relationship Between Gratuity and FP Family Pension

What is the relationship between Gratuity and FP family pension? In the above post, it is mentioned as follows:

"With reference to Gratuity, I have a caution. Ensure that the collected amount is deposited by obtaining a receipt number. In case this is not done, during the period of service and in the event of the candidate's death, the family would be deprived of the FP family pension."

Understanding CTC and Gratuity

CTC is the Cost to the Company on your employment. The cost towards your gratuity is incurred by the company since your joining. The company needs to make the provision for your gratuity from the first year itself of your service. Therefore, the company considers this cost from the beginning itself. There is no wrong. Mind well, as SDK said that the CTC is not your salary. CTC is the concept you accept at the time of negotiating your salary.

However, I suggest employers write a footnote below the CTC structure stating that gratuity is payable to the employee on completion of 5 years of service as per the POG Act. This way, the employee gets clarity at the time of joining itself.

Perfect and convincing answer, Koregaonkarji. The difference between salary and CTC is to be understood.

Thank you very much for your postings. I was also thinking of writing an appropriate reply. I have done so in some other posts before. In many posts, I have appealed to members to think before posting anything. As HR professionals, we should keep this in mind. Many people across the world read our postings. Just consider what impression they carry with them about us HR professionals. Some topics like gratuity, CTC, Bonus, etc., are repeatedly discussed in this forum, yet we still struggle to understand them. If we don't understand, how can we convince our stakeholders?

My intention is not to hurt anyone but to educate them.