PF - What is the penalty / punishment for late /non payment?

Dear Seniors,

A company is late by 5-6 months as of now in payment of PF liability. In fact, nothing has been deposited after February 2015. Some of the employees have resigned, left, or retired during this period. I would like to know the consequences for the following cases arising out of this late payment/non-payment.

1. One employee resigned on March 31, 2015, and received his PF settlement in August 2015. It is assumed that his account has been settled without the contribution of March 2015 since it has not yet been deposited. How will his legitimate claim be paid?

2. Similarly, if an employee resigned in May 2015 and transferred his PF without the contributions from March to May 2015, how will this three-month contribution be credited to his account?

3. What penalties or punishments can be imposed on the employer for such late/non-payment if any complaints are raised to the authorities?

4. Please note that no one was assigned any UAN before they left.

Thanks & regards

a) How can the resigned/retired person know that the amount received/transferred to them is not the full amount they were supposed to receive? They might not know the exact amount due to them since the UAN was not provided. If the UAN is not provided, is there any problem transferring the PF amount?

b) Even after a few months, if the company clears all its liabilities with interest, how should the accounts of those who have already resigned/retired be credited?

c) Suppose a retired/resigned employee somehow discovers a short payment and files a complaint with the authorities, simultaneously registering an FIR. What will be the consequences?

Thanks & regards

a) A member can access the details of their account by logging into the members.epfoservices.in website. They can download or request their EPF statement, which will contain all the information since their date of joining. UAN is not required to log into that portal. Members can also request details through RTI.

b) Once the company clears all payments, if the member's account is settled before clearing the liabilities, EPFO will not transfer the balance amount to that member voluntarily, as the account is already settled. However, there have been cases where EPF has transferred the balance amount to the member upon request through RTI.

c) A member is not required to file an FIR. A complaint letter addressed to the EPF commissioner is sufficient to take legal action against the company. Upon receiving the complaint, an enforcement officer will visit the employer's premises to verify the authenticity of the complaint and issue a demand notice to pay the pending amount with interest. After the payment is made, another letter will be sent demanding payment of penal damages of up to 300% of the pending amount.

I still have a doubt that in India, even at this era, most of the people (employees) don't have access to the internet; hence, how will they know the exact amount they should have been credited? Right to Information (RTI) is also not yet a common feature for a wide part of society, and only because of that, the legitimate claim of one's lifetime savings should not be kept idle in the government coffer and ultimately forfeited. I think employers should have some role to play, even if not legal but moral, to inform the employee (retired/resigned) since this situation arises due to the late payment of their liability.

Thanks & regards

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