Absconded Employees: Are We Required to File Their PF and ESIC Payments?

Do we need to file absconded employees' PF and ESIC? Some employees abscond without serving a notice period, and in that case, we don't have any liability to pay their accrued salary. Is this also applicable for PF and ESIC payments, or do we need to file absconded employees' PF and ESIC regardless of whether they absconded or not?

Please help. Thank you

As long as they are on your payroll or until you terminate their service, you must list them as employees. Since there will be no salary payment, no contributions will be due, and you can enter zero for days present, salary, and contribution.

All statutory payments are the liability of the employer until employment exists as per the service conditions mentioned in the appointment letter. Statutory payments during the notice period must be paid by the employer, whether it is served or not.

Any statutory liability arising on the part of the employer out of the contract of employment will come into play only when the other party to the contract, viz., the employee, fulfills the terms of the contract. It is not the subsistence of the contract between the parties but their mutual performance under the terms of the contract that creates statutory liability.

Abscondence becomes more than mere unauthorized absence; it results in the intractability of the employee, as well as formal disciplinary action followed by unilateral termination of the contract of employment by way of dismissal. In such a situation, payment of salary for the period of absence as well as notice salary does not arise just because of the subsistence of the contract of employment up to the effective date of dismissal.