Concerned About Career Impact: How to Handle an Unauthorized EPFO Member ID Issue?

I helped a staffing company set up IT infrastructure for an exam in October 2020. They paid 10,500 Rs as a goodwill payment. However, they created a Member ID against my UAN without my consent. The entry and exit dates are the same, and it's 01-10-2020. I have not signed any employment contract with them. Additionally, I have not signed PF2 and PF11 forms. I had no idea about the created member ID until recently.

I am currently serving my notice period at my current company, with my last working day being 31st March. My current company is considering this as dual employment.

The staffing company has provided a certificate that clearly states there was no formal job agreement and that it was a voluntary service.

I am an IIT-IIM graduate, and my salary was more than 10 times the amount they have credited.

I will be joining the new company on 3rd April. I am concerned if they will allow me to join considering the situation.

I am worried if this incident will ruin my entire career.

By mistake, the staffing company created a PF member ID for you, and it was exited on the same day. There was no contribution or service involved. How did your current company come to know about this member ID? When you join a new establishment, why should you disclose this member ID creation? If your current company has not created any member ID, and you wish to remain outside the purview of PF schemes, you can ignore the fact that the staffing company created an ID and UAN for you.

The dual employment matter, i.e., doing business for profit while being employed in a company, raised by your current company is a separate issue and should be settled separately. If you do not have a member ID other than the one created by the staffing company, you can ignore it while joining a new company. However, if the new company policy requires that everyone who joins them should be covered by EPF, then you will have to disclose the UAN created by the staffing company. This is because, with the same Aadhaar and telephone numbers, you cannot create another UAN with the company you join.

It is okay if the current company has given you PF and created a UAN because, in that situation, you can provide that UAN and continue with the same.

Thanks for replying, Sir. There is a small contribution to PF for that one month. My current company has been contributing to a different member ID with the same UAN since May 2019. The next company also contributes to PF. I have already provided my UAN to the new company. My doubt is if my current company writes this in the relieving letter, will I be given a chance to explain in the new company?

Why should the current company mention the existence of another member ID in the relieving order?

The relieving order will not contain such information. The employer is not concerned with how many UANs you have. They will only ask for your UAN, and once you provide it (the one to which your current company has been contributing since May 2019), the PF member ID (which is always different for different companies) will be created for you, and they will start contributing to it.

It is now up to the employees to transfer the funds from one member ID to another through the facility available in their respective member portals. You can also transfer the amount in your account in the staffing company's PF to your new company. The current/new employer has nothing to do with it as long as the approval part is given to the staffing company by selecting 'approval through "previous" company'.

Will the current company mention the escalations raised against me due to dual employment in the relieving letter or experience letter? The current company is in the finance domain, and the compliance is strict.

Usually not. However, I cannot say anything specific about your dual employment situation. The employer typically does not need to specify such matters unless there is a rivalry between the employee and the employer.

Dear Throwaway, Please note that UAN stands for Universal Account Number, which is allotted by EPFO. The UAN acts as an umbrella for the multiple Member IDs allotted to an individual by different establishments. The idea is to link multiple Member Identification Numbers (Member ID) allotted to a single member under a single Universal Account Number.

Madhu Sir is right. And worry not, at the time of relieving, your current employer will follow their own relieving format, and they will not mention these things in the relieving letter or anywhere. So, no need to worry and no need to disclose it to anyone. Once you join, they will allot a new Member ID with the same UAN.