A large number of EPF claimants or their nominees have struggled to get their money, some delays stretching up to 20 years, according to W. J. L. U. Wijayaweera, Commissioner General of Labour, adding that this was due to issues like the thumb impression getting smudged or entering an incomplete name.
Speaking at a seminar on EPF/ETF organized by the National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka (NCCSL) last week, he said that whatever the category or the nature of the business, even if one employee is recruited the employers are legally bound to make conributions to the EPF Fund. He said that there are few exceptions.
Mr Wijayaweera said that issues crop up in providing the membership numbers as now each time the employee changes the employment a separate number is assigned and in many cases the change of employment is not notified by the employee to continue the account under his name.
The other mistake is that though the EPF account holder could nominate anyone, it has become mandatory for the account holder to nominate somebody within the family, such as the spouse, mother or father or brothers and sisters, after their marriage. He said that many fail to do this change.
He said that lots of issues crop up after the demise of an EPF holder as to determine the legal heirs to the claim, especially in cases where EPF holders fail to change the nominees after their marriage.
There are only 2.3 million active EPF accounts as against 9.2 million inactive accounts, indicating either some of them are unemployed or some of them default contributions, the EPF chief noted.
He said that not only directors of companies but also top managers could be held liable for non-contribution to EPF and be prosecuted. He said that they are now contemplating to assign one number throughout, to eliminate some of the debacles now faced. |
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