EPF query: What to do if an employer does not deposit the employee’s contribution in their EPFO account?

If you are a salaried employee i.e. working in the organised sector, you must have noticed that every month, 12% of your basic pay is deducted from the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF). This is managed by the Employee Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO). Your employer also matches your contribution and also puts in 12% of your basic pay towards your PF. But what happens if your employer does not make this contribution in a timely, regular manner? Over the past few years, many companies, like Byju’s have been found not depositing their employee’s contributions with EPFO, even after deducting the same from their employee’s salaries. Read out to know how to check if your employer is making timely contributions or not.

No. An employer cannot do so. According to law, this is a criminal offense. Through their annual PF statement of account or the monthly passbook, employees can check whether or not their PF contributions are being regularly deposited by the employer. However, employees need to have an active UAN (universal account number) for the same. Employees also receive an SMS on their mobile number registered with EPFO whenever their PF is credited to their account every month.

Per EPFO rules, even if an employer goes insolvent, or winds up their operations, the employer will still have to pay their part of all their employee’s PF contributions. According to EPFO rules, this payment will be prioritised, and will have to be made by the employer before settling all their other debts.

It is the responsibility of the employee to get their PF account transferred from their previous establishment to their new employer. This can be done online, and also by submitting Form 13(R). To track your PF account balance, you can give a missed call to 9966044425 from your registered mobile number. Remember that you do not have to activate your UAN every time you change your job.

An employee can register their grievances against their employer for PF related purposes on the EPF Grievance Management System. You can also reach out to the nodal officer that oversees your zone. A list of such officers is available on the homepage of the official EPFO website under the employee’s section.