Employee Wants to Join PF After Opting Out: Can We Include Him Now and What Date Should We Use?

An employee in my organization did his first job in China. He joined our organization last year and filled out Form 11 for not enrolling in PF. Now, he has come to the HR department asking if he wants to be included in PF. Can we include him in PF from October onwards? What will be his date of joining in case we include him in PF?

You can include him from October for PF only without a pension contribution. The date of joining for all PF matters will be 1st October. You can take his actual date of joining for other benefits like gratuity. But for PF, the date of joining should be 1st October or a date later on, i.e., today's date.

As the employer is not under any legal obligation to cover him under PF, the cost by way of the employer's contribution should be borne by the employee. For that, you have to get another agreement with the employee, who should entrust the employer to deduct the employer's share of PF also from his salary.

Can we have two dates of joining?

So, can we have two dates of joining? One for employee master data purposes and one for enrolling in PF. Will this not create any statutory/compliance issues in the future?

In this particular case, it will not create any legal issue because this employee is actually an excluded employee, but we are extending the benefit of EPF (only EPF) considering it as an employee benefit, not under any legal obligation.

At the same time, in respect of a new employee who is either an existing member of EPF or whose wages are not more than Rs 15,000, then the mismatch in the EPF data and employee master is a serious noncompliance.