Notifications

Announcements by the Government of India
All Notifications
State

India

Updated: 31st July, 2023

SOP for PF inspections by EPFO

EPFO sets Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for inspection of an establishment, vide internal web circular No. CAIU/SOP/2022/(E-47416)/2818, dated 31st July, 2023.

Below is the gist:
· The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation has clarified to all its field functionaries regarding the newly developed SOP for the inspection of an establishment and directed them to adhere to the said mechanism while conducting online or physical inspection of an establishment. The SOP promotes self-compliance and has a three-step inspection process.
· The three-step inspection process includes
a) Desk Review
b) Nudging
c) Physical inspection

A. During the process of desk review, the EPFO would identify likely defaulting establishments by verifying available data in the system/ office records and establishes a priority matrix for selecting establishments for inspection. Desk review also includes verifying the data available with other agencies like ESIC, GSTN, MCA etc.

B. During the nudging process, identified defaulting establishments will be communicated through various means like email, SMS etc. to comply with the enactment.

C. Physical inspection will be carried out for the establishments that have not complied, despite the previous steps.

Key points from the SOP are as below:
1. Each field office shall undertake a Desk Review of all the active establishments starting from the oldest registration code within their jurisdiction, at least once a year.
2. During the nudging phase, the defaulted establishments will be given an opportunity to comply, and the list for physical inspection will exclude those establishments that have complied during the nudging phase.
3. After the completion of desk review and nudging, a physical inspection will be assigned to Enforcement Officer.
4. After the inspection, a report will be sent to the establishment on the registered e-mail ID.
5. In respect of establishments where insufficient data is found in system/office records, triangulation with readily available data from other agencies like ESIC/GSTN/MCA etc. may be undertaken, in order to ascertain the status of the establishment.
6. A mechanism has been created to send SMS & e-mail alerts to all defaulting establishments during the nudging phase, which will help the establishments to respond and comply to avoid physical inspection.
7. SMS alerts will be sent to all the members whose contribution is not deposited by the due date.

The above mechanism will be effective from 1st August 2023.

The goal of the above SOP is to have a transparent and accountable inspection process and also to promote self-compliance, protect members’ right through a systematic and technology-driven approach.

India

Updated: 24th July, 2023

ESIC clarifies on correction in date of birth as per Aadhaar details of IP/IW

Employees’ State Insurance Corporation has implemented seeding of Aadhaar to the insured person’s number on voluntary basis for registration and providing benefits to them and their beneficiaries under ESI scheme. The Employees’ State Insurance Corporation, New Delhi, vide circular No. P-11014/3/2022-Bft-II (Part-I), dated 25th May, 2023, has confirmed that an online provision for seeding and authentication of Aadhaar has been developed and deployed online, whereby existing employees can seed Aadhaar number for self and their family members voluntarily after verification of OTP received on mobile phone from UIDAI. Ascent had circulated an alert on the same on 9th June, 2023.

Now, the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation, vide internal circular No. P-11014/3/2022-Bft-II, dated 24th July, 2023, has directed its field functionaries about the correction of date of birth of insured persons beyond three years or more. The Employees’ State Insurance Corporation has clarified that online requests received from insured persons relating to correction/updation in their particulars, specifically date of birth (varying three years or more) may be accepted as per the details in their Aadhaar Card, which carries specific date of birth.

All the field functionaries are directed to make strict compliance in the disposal of all online requests for editing/updating of IPs and their family particulars as per the above guidelines within three days’ time to mitigate the hardship faced by IPs and their family members.

India

Updated: 24th July, 2023

EPFO declares Rate of Interest for EPF members’ accounts for the year 2022-23

Earlier, the Central Board of Trustees (CBT) of Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation recommended an increase of 0.05 % in the interest rate on Provident Fund deposits for the year 2022-23.

Now, subsequent to the approval of the Central Government, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation has declared the interest rate as 8.15% for the year 2022-23 and requested all the field officers to issue necessary instructions to all concerned for crediting the said interest amount to members’ accounts.

India

Updated: 26th June, 2023

EPFO extension of last date for submission of application for pension on higher wages

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation, vide press release, dated 26th June, 2023, has extended the last date for submission of application for pension on higher wages. The last date for submission of application for pension on higher wages will be 11th July, 2023.

Further, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organization also granted a further period of three months to employers to upload wage details of the applicants. The last date for uploading the wage details along with the approval is 30th September, 2023.

It has also been clarified that if any applicant faces difficulty in submitting online application, they may immediately lodge such grievances on EPFiGMS, by selecting grievance category as ‘ Higher Pensionary Benefits on higher wages’ for resolution.

India

Updated: 14th June, 2023

EPFO guidelines for submission of Joint Request under para 26(6), while applying for pension on higher wages

The online Joint Option form for applying for pension on higher wages, provides for proof of joint option under para 26(6) of the Employees’ Provident Fund Scheme, 1952. It has been brought to the notice of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation that most of the applicants do not possess such joint option which can be uploaded on the portal, along with the application for pension on higher wages.

Accordingly, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation, vide internal circular number. Pension/PoHW/23/Circular-26(6)/139610/1648, dated 14th June, 2023, has issued below guidelines to all the field officers on verification of applications, in case the applicant does not upload the joint request under para 26(6).

The field officers will verify that:
• Employer share of PF contribution has been remitted on employee’s pay, exceeding the prevalent statutory wage ceiling of Rs.5,000/6,500/15,000 per month from the day the pay exceeded the wage ceiling, or from 16th November, 1995, whichever is late, till date or till the date of retirement, as the case may be.
• Administrative charges payable by the employer have been remitted on such higher wages.
• Employee PF account has been updated with interest fixed by the Government time to time on such higher contribution received.
• Uploading of any of the below document along with application will suffice for the validation of joint request approved under para 26(6)
 - Wage details submitted by the employer along with applications.
 - Any salary slip/ letter from the employer authenticated by the employer.
 - Copy of the joint request and undertaking from the employer.
 - Letter from PF office, if any, issued prior to 4th November, 2022, (date of the judgement) indicating PF contribution on higher wages.

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation further clarified that, the applicant who qualify for the above and are already contributing, or have contributed till retirement or superannuation on higher pay, have not submitted their joint request and undertaking of the employer, can submit the same at the time of final claim settlement through their last employer. Joint request and undertaking of the employer can be submitted by pensioner or members any time before the grant of pension on higher wages.

Given the updates, which are being received by the employers from the EPFO in a staggered manner, the para 26(6) declaration, currently, which can also be submitted at the time of F & F settlement, may come in as online option during enrolment / F & F settlement.

Pro-forma for joint request and undertaking by the employer under para 26(6) of the EPF scheme has been enclosed along with the circular.

India

Updated: 5th May, 2023

ESIC requests the employer/employees to seed Aadhaar number

Earlier, the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation, Regional office, Goa, vide circular no. 32/P/11/11/85/Cov/24, dated 5th May, 2023, had requested all the employers registered under Employees’ State Insurance Corporation, Regional Office, Goa, to register their new employees by seeding of Aadhaar number. Ascent had circulated an alert on the same on 8th May, 2023, and recommended all the employees across India covered under ESIC to follow this.

Now, the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation, New Delhi, vide circular No. P-11014/3/2022-Bft-II (Part-I), dated 25th May, 2023, requested all the regional officers to galvanize all the employers, employees, and beneficiaries throughout India to achieve the target of Aadhaar seeding within the stipulated time frame, with respect to all the employees and beneficiaries, so that the eligible beneficiaries/IPs can avail all the benefits under ESI scheme without any inconvenience.

ESIC has confirmed that online provision for seeding and authentication of Aadhaar has been developed and deployed, wherein existing employees can seed Aadhaar numbers for self and for their family members voluntarily, after the verification of OTP received on mobile phone from UIDAI.

The benefit of the above would be:
1. Avoid duplication of data for a particular member.
2. If any employee is already a member seeded with Aadhaar, then the same can be tracked to avoid duplication of IP number. This would ensure quicker service period.
3. This also facilitates the member to generate Ayushman Bharath Health Account through National Health Authority.
4. With the above there can be interoperate ability of health record for the member and would stand beneficial to the member.

Along with the circular ESIC has also enclosed a user manual containing the detailed procedure/ work flow for the handy assistance of the user/employees/employers.

India

Updated: 2nd June, 2023

Application for pension on higher wages to be assessed by EPFO within 20 days of the receipt

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation, vide internal circular No. Pension/PoHW/PartFile-101123/Scrutiny (e-1003310)/1375, dated 2nd June, 2023, has directed all its field officers to scrutinise the application for pension on higher wages within 20 days of the receipt.

Earlier, Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation, vide circular dated 23rd April, 2023 had clarified about the categorisation of received applications as below:
1. Application which is complete and approved by the employer.
2. Application is complete but not approved by the employer.
3. Application is not complete but approved by the employer.

Scrutiny when the application is complete and approved by the employer:
While dealing with this category of application, if all the details furnished in the application, and the PF records match, the dues will be calculated and order will be passed by EPFO for depositing or transferring the dues to the employee.
If there is any mismatch in the PF records and the details furnished in the application, information about the same will be given to the employee and the employer, with a time period of one month to complete the information. If information is not received within one month, an order will be passed based on the merit.

Scrutiny when the application is complete but not approved by the employer:
Intimation about this shortfall will be given to the employee and the employer and a time period of one month will be given to the employer for providing any additional proof or evidence or to correct any mistake. If the said error is not rectified within one month and not approved by the employer, the application will be rejected.

Scrutiny when the application is not complete but approved by the employer:
While dealing with this category of application, the EPO will seek the employer with an intimation to the employee to provide the missing information within one month. If the information is not received within one month, an order will be passed on merit.

Special cases where examination of records of the establishment is necessary:
There may be circumstances where examination of the records of the establishment/ trust, especially for rectification of wage details, is necessary. In such cases, a team will be formed by EPFO which will visit the establishment/trust after giving 7 days of notice of visit for verification of records. Verification of records will be only with respect to the concerned applicant. Efforts shall be made by EPFO to complete the verification in one go.

Now, as per the circular dated 2nd June, 2023, Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation has directed all its field officers to validate the applications expeditiously and to send the demand letter or communication, as the case may be, to the employer and employee for providing any additional proof or evidence or to correct any mistake in respect of each applications within 20 days of the receipt of the application.

The above would help in faster processing of the application and providing clarity on the status of the application.

India

Updated: 11th May, 2023

EPFO clarifies on method of calculating dues of members who apply to contribute on higher wages towards pension

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation issued internal circular No. Pension/SupremeCourtjudgement/PoHW/2022/312, dated 11th May, 2023, directing its regional offices regarding the method to calculate dues of the subscribers who have opted to contribute towards pension scheme on higher wages, as per the recent Supreme Court judgment, dated 4th November, 2022.

It is also clarified by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation that, 8.33% of employer share on higher pay from the date the pay exceeds wage ceiling, and 1.16% of employer share on higher pay above Rs.15000/- a month will be added for calculating the dues. This amount will be adjusted from the member’s PF contributions, if there is sufficient balance in their PF account.

Process for calculation of dues:
i. Each member’s case shall be processed in a separate file, created in e-office, with clear marking of the application id.
ii. In case of exempted establishments, the wage details for the entire period and the matching contribution should be available with the exempted establishment and must be consistent with the records of the trust.

Below components will be calculated month wise:
i. 8.33 % of employer’s share on higher pay from the date the member has started to contribute on higher wages.
ii. 1.16% of employer share on higher pay above Rs.15000/- with effect from 1st September, 2014.
iii. The above two components will be taken from the amount already deposited in to the Pension Fund and balance, if any, will be taken from the EPF contributions.
iv. The interest to be charged on dues as calculated above for un-exempted establishment shall be the interest earned by the member at the rate declared by the Government time to time, and for exempted establishment, the interest will be at the rate declared by the trust, or as declared by the Government, whichever is higher.

After calculating the above dues, the applications will be classified in below manner:
i. Applications with respect to which all the dues have already been fully remitted to the EPS in the due months.
ii. Applications with respect to which dues has been not remitted to the EPS, but adequate balance is available in the member’s PF account, which can be diverted to EPS.
iii. Applications with respect to which dues has not been remitted to the EPS and there is inadequate balance in the PF account to adjust.

EPFO will inform the member about his/her status regarding the dues in each of the above case through latest employer and will require the member to submit written consent in case of diversion of fund. In case of inadequate fund, EPFO will issue a demand notice in a specific format given in the circular asking the member to pay the dues. The member will be given 3 months’ time to deposit and to give the consent for diversion of funds.

The method of payment of dues by the member will be through online facility provided by EPFO if any, or through cheque with details like application ID, UAN/PPO number, name and mobile number, demand notice number and date written on the back side of the cheque.

Once all the above processes are complete, EPFO will verify them and will start its internal process and a final speaking order from EPFO will be communicated to the member through letter or email, with a copy to the latest employer.

The EPFO has further stated that the method of computation of pension will follow through subsequent circular.

India

Updated: 3rd May, 2023

EPFO enables option for deleting and re-submitting the joint option for higher pension

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation, vide circular No. Pension/PoHW/2023/69114/615, dated, 3rd May, 2023, has introduced an additional option of ‘Delete Application’ in the online facility for claiming higher pension. The employees, after submitting the application, if there are any corrections, can delete the application and thereafter file a fresh application for validation with proper details. However, this option can be exercised by the employee only if the employer has not acted on the submitted application. Where the employer has already acted on the submitted application, the employee won’t be able to use the delete option. However, even in such cases, employee will be provided opportunity to rectify the errors after scrutiny of application by Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation, as stated in its earlier circular dated, 23rd April, 2023. An alert on the said circular, has been circulated by Ascent on 26th April, 2023, with all the clarifications.

India

Updated: 28th March, 2023

PAN and Aadhar linking

We would like to inform you that the deadline for linking PAN-AADHAR has been extended from 31st March, 2023 to 30th June, 2023 (link to access notification provided). We feel this would be the final extension beyond which the PAN will be inoperative and would have repercussions in deduction and remittances.

If PAN-AADHAR is not linked by 30th June 2023,
a) TDS shall be deducted at higher rate (Flat 20% on Gross salary or as per tax slab whichever is higher) as provided in the Income Tax Act.
b) No refunds will be made against such PANs.
c) interest shall not be payable on such refund for the period during which PAN remains inoperative.

Hence, we would like to keep you informed on the steps that needs to be carried out proactively that can ease the process within the next quarter.
Step1: Register on https://report.insight.gov.in (Guideline document from Income Tax department enclosed; click Read More button to access the file) to identify the list of employees (active) who have not yet linked PAN-AADHAR (Bulk verification available). This registration cannot be carried out by AscentHR directly as the process is linked to the company’s authorized signatory email ID and phone number.

Step2: Once the registration is successful, login and extract the data by clicking Compliance Check for Section 206AB & 206CCA at home page, the compliance check functionality page appears. Through the functionality, tax deductors or collectors can verify if any person (PAN) is a “Specified Person” as defined in Section 206AB & 206CCA.

The same can be done in two modes:
a) PAN Search: To verify for single PAN.
b) Bulk Search: To verify for PANs in Bulk

Step3: Generate the result which will be retrieved in (CSV format with the following details):
• Financial Year: Current Financial Year.
• PAN: As provided in the input. Status shall be “Invalid PAN” if provided PAN does not exist.
• Name: Masked name of the Person (as per PAN).
• PAN Allotment date: Date of allotment of PAN.
• PAN-Aadhar Link Status: Status of PAN-Aadhar linking for individual PAN holders as on date. The response options are Linked (PAN and Aadhar are linked), Not Linked (PAN & Aadhar are not linked), Exempt (PAN is exempted from PAN-Aadhar linking requirements as per Department of Revenue Notification No. 37/2017 dated 11th May 2017) or Not-Applicable (PAN belongs to non-individual person).
• Specified Person u/s 206AB & 206CCA: The response options are Yes (PAN is a specified person as per section 206AB/206CCA as on date) or No (PAN is not a specified person as per section 206AB/206CCA as on date).

Step4: Share the list with AscentHR or use the attached communication which contains the PAN & Aadhar linking steps to the applicable employees.

Note: This exercise might need to be carried out every month/ quarter for new joiners.

India

Updated: 20th February, 2023

EPFO guidelines on opting higher pension dated 20th February, 2023

Further to our earlier alerts on this subject dated (listed below for your reference with links):
➢ 16th November 2023 on Supreme Court Judgement - 4th November 2022
➢ 5th January 2023 on the Circular issued by PF office - 29th December 2022
➢ 10th February 2023 on the Circular issued by PF office - 25th January 2023

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation has issued circular dated 20th February, 2023 to its regional offices with instructions to implement the 4th November, 2023 Hon’ble Supreme Court verdict on higher pension.

Following are the key highlights of the circular:
1. Eligibility:
Employees who would be eligible to opt for higher pension and who would have to submit joint declaration under Para 11(3) and 11(4) are:
a) Employees and employers who had contributed above the wage ceiling limit of Rs. 5000/ 6500 under Para 26(6) of Employees’ Provident Fund Scheme, and
b) Did not exercise joint option under Para 11(3) of the Employees’ Pension Scheme. Para 11(3) of the Employees’ Pension Scheme was deleted effective 1st September, 2014,
c) And were members of the Employees’ Pension Scheme prior to 1st September, 2014 and continued to be member post on or after 1st September, 2014.

2. Modalities to be noted by eligible employees
a) Format would be specified for the joint option along with the disclaimer by Provident Fund office

b) Joint option would contain explicit consent of the employee in case of:
✓ Transfer of balance from the employer contribution account to Employees’ Pension Scheme account
Or,
✓ Refund of amounts by the employee to the Employees’ Pension Fund in case of balance not being sufficient in employer contribution account. These scenarios might occur where in a member has availed partial withdrawal from the PF accumulations

c) Transfer of amount from employer contribution / refund by employee would be along with interest at the rate declared under Para 60 of the Employees’ Provident Fund Scheme for the respective years

d) Transfer of balances from the employer contribution account to the Employees’ Pension Scheme account for exempted trusts would also need a undertaking by the trustees to the effect that contributions are paid along with interest up to the date of payment

e) There would be a further circular issued by the PF office on the modalities of calculation and deposit

f) This joint option must contain proof of remittance under employer’s provident fund contributions on higher wages exceeding the prevalent wage ceiling limit under Para 26(6) of Employees’ Provident Funds Scheme, along with the proof of joint option under Para 26(6) duly verified by the employer.

3. Process steps followed for processing and approval
a) Upon receipt of the joint option from employee, the same would be registered and logged digitally at the PF office

b) Receipt number of the joint option would be provided to the applicant

c)The logged application is routed to the employer login for approval through DSC / e-sign

d) Employer to verify the joint option

4. Following would be the verification process at the Provident Fund Department
a) Verification of document along with checking of calculations with respect to transfer in Employees’ Pension Scheme would be conducted by concerned dealing assistant

b) Post the above verification, Dealing Assistant transfers the document to section supervisor/ accounts officer who further verify the documents and calculations. Discrepancies if any are marked before transferring the documents to APFC / RC II

c) APFC / RC II shall verify each case before approving / rejecting. The status of the documents would be intimated to the applicant through email / post while efforts would be made to intimate through phone / SMS

Ascent Comments
Point 5, of the attached notification warrants for 3 mandatory conditions to be met, this has been explained in the eligibility section above. The first condition states of contributions to provident fund on higher wages under Para 26(6).

Below is the extract of Para 26(6) of Employees’ Provident Funds Scheme, 1952

[Notwithstanding anything contained in this paragraph [an officer not below the rank of an Assistant Provident Fund Commissioner] may, on the joint request in writing, of any employee of a factory or other establishment to which this Scheme applies and his employer, enrol such employee as a member or allow him to contribute more than rupees [fifteen thousand rupees] of his pay per month if he is already a member of the Fund and thereupon such employee shall be entitled to the benefits and shall be subject to the conditions of the Fund, provided that the employer gives an undertaking in writing that he shall pay the administrative charges payable and shall comply with all statutory provisions in respect of such employee.]

Reading of the above provides directive that declaration under Para 26(6) joint option in writing has to be provided at the time of opting to contribute on higher wager towards provident contributions.

We are enquiring with the PF department on the above to be clear on the communication that needs to be sent to employees from your organization.

The release of joint option would provide clarity in this regard and also on the timelines for submission

Kindly expect another update on this matter in the next couple of days.

India

Updated: 25th January, 2023

EPFO issues further guidelines with regard to pension on higher wages for members

The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in its significant ruling on November 4th, 2022, has partially upheld the Employees, Pension (Amendment) Scheme, 2014. The gist of the same had been circulated by AscentHR on 16th November, 2022.

Some of the important points which were highlighted in our alert covering the judgement with regard to members who were retired prior to 1st September, 2014 were as below:

· Employees who had retired prior to 1st September, 2014 without exercising the option to contribute on higher wages toward pension fund and have already exited from the membership are not eligible to exercise the said option of contribution on higher wages.
· The Employees who had retired before 1st September, 2014 upon exercising the option to contribute on salary exceeding 6500/- will be covered by the provisions prior to the amendment of 2014. That is, pensionable salary shall be based on such higher salary on which the contributions were paid.

Subsequent to this judgement EPFO head office, vide circular No- Pension/2022/54877/15149, dated 29th December, 2022 had circulated a detailed guidelines to all its field functionaries to comply with the judgement. An alert of the same was circulated by AscentHR on 5th January, 2023.

Now, EPFO head office have re-examined the case of pension on higher wages of employees who had retired prior to 1st September, 2014 in light of the above judgement of the Hon’ble Supreme Court and issued further guidelines to all its field functionaries, vide circular No- Pension/2022/55893/15785, dated 25th January, 2023. Some of the salient features of the guidelines are as below:
· The EPFO has implemented the direction of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in RC Gupta & others et., Vs. Regional Provident Fund Commissioner, Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation & Others et., dated 4th October, 2016 with regard to the employees who had contributed on higher wages under Para 26(6) of EPF Scheme, and had further exercised their option under proviso to erstwhile para 11(3) prior to their retirement, and their joint option request under the proviso to paragraph 11(3) was explicitly denied by concerned office of the RPFC and/or contribution on higher salary was refunded/diverted back to provident fund accounts.
· In respect of employees who had retired prior to 1st September, 2014 without exercising any option under Para 11(3) or the pre-amended scheme, and have been granted pension on higher wages, their cases need to be re-examined to ensure that they are not given higher pension from the month of January 2023 onwards. Pension in such cases may be immediately restored to pension on wages up to the ceiling of Rs. 5000/- or Rs. 6500/.
· Before revising any pension entitlement, an advance notice will be issued to the pensioner so that he/she has an opportunity to prove the exercise of option under Para 11(3) before his retirement prior to 1st September, 2014. Further, any recovery which may arise after such revision should be done in a staggered and persuasive manner. The RPFC-I/ officer in charge of the region will be the competent authority to re-determine the pension entitlement and initiate recovery, if any.

Field functionaries should take up most care to identify cases where higher pension was granted on account of the judgment of any court. In such cases, a favourable order shall be obtained from the concerned court citing the order of the Supreme Court dated 4th November, 2022 in the case of EPFO Vs. Sunil Kumar.B before proceeding with stopping/restoration of pension to wages up to ceiling of Rs.5,000/- or Rs.6,500/-.

India

Updated: 23rd December, 2022

Discontinuation of NEEM Scheme

The Government of India, Ministry of Education, Department of Higher Education, Technical Section – II, vide letter No. F.No.36-27/2018.NVEQF, dated 23rd December, 2022, has informed the Chairman of All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), New Delhi, that the government has decided to discontinue the National Employability Enhancement Scheme (NEEM) with immediate effect and has asked AICTE to close the scheme.

Please note that the above said letter does not clarify how the present NEEM trainees are to be dealt with.
A copy of the letter is attached for your reference.

India

Updated: 29th December, 2022

EPFO Head office instructs all their field functionaries to comply with the judgement of Hon’ble Supreme Court on Pension Amendment Scheme

The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India on 4th November, 2022 had given its significant ruling on Employees, Pension (Amendment) Scheme, 2014. The said matter had been referred to central government for issuing directions, and subsequently the central government has directed the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation to take requisite action to implement the direction given by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in its judgement.

In pursuance to the direction given by the central government, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation, New Delhi, vide circular No. Pension/2022/54877/15149, dated 29th December, 2022, has instructed all its field functionaries to take all the necessary action to comply with the judgement of the Hon’ble Supreme Court.

The field offices are also directed to give adequate publicity of the decision taken by EPFO to implement the said directions. Below are some of the important process steps which should be followed by the field offices while implementing the said judgement as per the instruction from EPFO head office.

The Following members of EPS may apply for higher pension option:
• The member who had contributed to EPF on more than prevalent wage ceiling limit of Rs. 5000/- or 6500 as the case may be under para 26(6) of Employees’ Provident Fund Scheme.
• The member who had exercised the joint option to contribute on higher wages to Employees’ Pension Scheme under para 11(3) of the Employees’ Pension Scheme.
• The members whose above said option has been declined by EPFO.

Note: Extract of Para 26 (6) of Employees’ Provident Fund Scheme and Para 11(3) of Employees’ Pension Scheme is enclosed for your reference.
Para 26 (6) of Employees’ Provident Fund Scheme (prior to September, 2014 amendment)

Notwithstanding anything contained in this paragraph [an officer not below the rank of an Assistant Provident Fund Commissioner] may, on the joint request in writing, of any employee of a factory or other establishment to which this Scheme applies and his employer, enroll such employee as a member or allow him to contribute more than rupees [six thousand five hundred rupees] of his pay per month if he is already a member of the Fund and thereupon such employee shall be entitled to the benefits and shall be subject to the conditions of the Fund, provided that the employer gives an undertaking in writing that he shall pay the administrative charges payable and shall comply with all statutory provisions in respect of such employee.

Para 11 (3) of Employees’ Pension Scheme (prior to September, 2014 amendment)

The Maximum Pensionable salary shall be limited to (rupees six thousand and five hundred i.e. Rs. 6,500) per month:
[provided that if at the option of the employer and employee, contribution paid on salary exceeding (rupees sis thousand and five hundred i.e. Rs. 6,500) per month from the date of commencement of this Scheme or from the date salary exceeds (rupees six thousand and five hundred i.e. Rs. 6,500) whichever is later, and 8.33 percent share of the employers thereof is remitted into the Pension Fund, pensionable salary shall be based on such higher salary]

The process to apply for higher option is as follow, while reading the above, kindly note that currently there is no online option facility provided by the EPFO:
• Commissioner may specify the format by which a member can apply.
• In case of transfer of funds from exempted PF trust to pension fund of EPFO, an undertaking of the trustee shall be submitted. The undertaking shall be to the effect that due contribution along with interest up to the date of payment, will be deposited within the specified period.
• The application must contain following documents:
1. Proof of joint option to contribute on higher wages to EPF under para 26 (6) of the Employees’ Provident Fund Scheme duly verified by the employer.
2. Proof of joint option to contribute on higher wages to EPS under para 11 (3) of the Employees’ Pension Scheme duly verified by the employer.
3. Proof of remittance in PF on higher wages exceeding the prevalent wage ceiling of Rs. 5000/6,500.
4. Proof of remittance in Pension Fund on higher wages exceeding the prevalent wage ceiling of Rs. 5000/6,500, if any.
5. Written refusal of APFC or any other higher authority of EPFO to such request/remittance.

After receiving the application in specified manner within specified time period, it will be dealt with following manner by the Regional PF commissioner:
• Each application will be registered and digitally logged in the URL facility provided.
• Receipt number will be provided to the applicant.
• The application will be land into employer’s login whose verification with e-sign will be essential for further process.
• As far as possible, each application will be converted in to e-file.
• After examining the application, the OIC will dispose it by passing a speaking order that shall be intimated to the applicant through e-mail/post or by any other suitable method.

However, Employees’ Pension (1995) Co-ordination Committee (national organisation) has raised objections to the above said circular of EPFO and requested to withdraw the circular, there is no outcome as on date of such objection.

AscentHR Comment: Supporting document asked by EPFO to apply for higher pension is the proof of option opted under para 26(6) and para 11(3) of the EPF and EPS scheme respectively. While this provision existed, this was not exercised by most of the members and hence would act a deterrent factor for members to claim such a benefit. This factor is included basis the term “entitled employees” as used in the Hob’ble SC judgement, and was highlighted in our previous Alert dated 16th November, 2022 – a copy of the same is attached as a PDF file for your reference.

India

Updated: 4th November, 2022

Supreme Court decision which upholds Pension (Amendment) Scheme 2014

The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in its significant ruling on November 4th, 2022, has partially upheld the Employees, Pension (Amendment) Scheme, 2014. The High Courts of Delhi, Kerala and Rajasthan had earlier struck down the said amendment made to the scheme.

India

Updated: 13th April, 2022

ESIC extends time line for depositing contribution and filing of half yearly returns

Considering the problems faced by Employers on the ESIC portal, The Employees’ State Insurance Corporation, vide notification No. P-11/12/Misc./ 1/2019(M)-Rev.II, dated 13th April, 2022, has extended the due date for depositing the March 2022 contribution to 30th April, 2022 instead of 15th April, 2022.

Accordingly, the employers are also allowed to file half yearly returns for the contribution period from October, 2021 to March 2022, up to 26th May, 2022 instead of 11th May, 2022.

India

Updated: 5th April, 2022

EPFO clarifies the calculation and deduction of TDS on Taxable Interest

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation, vide circular No. WSU/6(1)2019/IncomeTax/Part-I/(E-33306), dated 5th April, 2022, has brought more clarity on the TDS calculation and deduction pertaining to taxable interest relating to contributions in a Provident Fund exceeding 2.5 Lakh or 5 lakh as the case may be. The Central Board of Direct Taxes, earlier published, vide notification dated, 31st August, 2021, making income arising out of PF contribution as taxable effective from 1st April, 2022.

In this circular, EPFO has clarified the applicability of TDS and explained the Methodology of computing TDS with illustrations.

Our understanding on this notification would be sent during early part of the next week.

India

Updated: 22nd March, 2022

ESIC relaxes the eligibility condition for COVID-19 Relief Scheme

The Employees’ State Insurance Corporation, vide notification No. N-12/13/01/2019-P&D, dated 22nd March, 2022, has relaxed the eligibility condition to avail the benefit of COVID-19 relief scheme from a minimum of 70 days contribution to 35 days contribution during a period of maximum of one year immediately preceding the diagnosis of COVID-19. This relaxation will be effective from 24th March, 2020.

The draft of this notification was earlier published by The Employees’ State Insurance Corporation, vide notification No. N-12/13/01/2019-P&D, dated 1st February, 2022.

India

Updated: 17th March, 2022

No Coercive recovery of EPF dues during limitation period

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation, vide web circular No. LC-(5025)/WebUpload/Circulars LC/20029/12, dated 17th March, 2022, has circulated the recent judgement passed by the Ld. Single Bench of Hon’ble High Court of Judicature at Bombay in WP 4973 of 2021 (Kulgaon Badlapur Nagar Parishad Vs. The Regional Provident Fund Commissioner II, Thane) to all the Addl CPFCs and RPFCs and instructed to follow the precedence set by the judgement.

In the said case, the respondent RPFC II, Thane, had recovered the EPF dues from the petitioner company without waiting for the limitation/ appeal period to be over by directly withdrawing the entire amount from the petitioner’s bank account. The Hon’ble court has considered the action of the EPFC as inappropriate, arbitrary, and unreasonable. Hence, it ordered to refund the 50% of the recovered amount to the petitioner on or before 21st March, 2022.

India

Updated: 4th April, 2022

Central Government declares 14th April as Closed Holiday

The Central Government, vide notification No. G.S.R.271(E), dated 4th April, 2022, has declared 14th April, 2022 as a notified Closed Holiday throughout India under the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 on account of birthday of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.

India

Updated: 24th March, 2022

Central Government declares transport (other than railways) as a public utility service

The Central Government, vide notification No. S.O.1285(E), dated 24th March 2022, has declared the services in transport (other than railways) for the carriage of passengers or goods, by land or water, to be a public utility service for the purpose of Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 for a further period of six months with effect from the date of publication of this notification.

India

Updated: 1st June, 2021

High Court confirms Interim Order on Aadhaar- UAN seeding

As per the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation circular dated, 01-06-2021, seeding of Aadhaar number along with the UAN number was mandatory and the entire process of seeding of Adhaar details was to be completed mandatorily by 31-08-2021.

The association of Industries and other Institutions have challenged the above order of EPF before the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi in writ petition number – WP (C) 5952/2021 & CM APPLs. 18786/2021 & 32165/2021, 32239/2021. On 17-09-2021, the Hon’ble High Court has given the Interim Order as follows:

• For remittance of PF Contribution for the month of May 2021, if remitted by the employer by 20th June 2021, no coercive action will be taken by the EPFO for such belated remittance of PF Contributions.

• All Establishments were given an extension up to 30-11-2021 for remittance of PF Contribution without seeding Aadhaar with UAN.

• Grievance Redressal Committee was adviced to be formed by the EPFO for giving assistance to the employers and employees with respect to seeding Aadhaar with UAN, and status report was required to be submitted by the EPFO before the Hon’ble Court, before the next date of hearing i.e. 16-12-2021.

Now on 16-12-2021 the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi has confirmed the above Interim Order dated 17-09-2021 as absolute and disposed the Writ Petition based upon the representation.

Hence, it is concluded that upto 30-11-2021, there will be no further prosecutions if any employers have failed to follow mandatory seeding of UAN in PF.

India

Updated: 4th December, 2021

ESIC Launches Pilot Project on Annual Preventive Health Check-up Programme and Other Initiatives

Employees’ State Insurance Corporation, vide press release No. F.No.E-13/12/17/2021-PR, dated 4th December, 2021, has launched a pilot project on Annual Preventive Health Check-up Programme for ESI insured persons aged 40 years and above in 4 ESIC Medical Colleges/Hospitals located at Ahmedabad, Faridabad, Hyderabad, and Kolkata. This will benefit Insured Persons in the early detection of diseases. Once the pilot project becomes successful, the same may get replicated throughout the country.

Also, ESIC has proposed construction of new ESIC Hospitals at Gurugram (Manesar), Meerut (UP), Dubri (Odisha), Atchutapuram in Visakhapatnam (AP) and taking over of state run Hospitals at Tinsukia (Assam). ESIC has also approved the proposal for creation of a SRO (Sub-Regional Office) at Jharsuguda in Odisha.

The contributory condition for COVID-19 relief scheme has been relaxed from 70 days payment to 35 days payment.

Following are the major types of annual preventive health check-up ESIC has launched as pilot project programme:
• ECG
• Hb, TLC, DLC, ESR
• Random Blood sugar
• Kidney Function Test – Blood Urea, S. Creatinine
• Liver Function Test-S. Bilirubin, SGOT, SGPT, S.Alk
• Phosphatase test
• Urine-Routine and Microscopy
• X-Ray Chest – PA view

India

Updated: 8th November, 2021

Seeding of UAN Number in the ESIC Insurance Module

The Employees’ State Insurance Corporation through its earlier circular No. P-11/12/ UAN/2021-Rev.II dated 8th November, 2021, had directed all the responsible ESIC authorities and the regional/ sub regional offices to take all the necessary measures even to contact the employer to ensure the seeding of UAN number of employees in the Insurance Module.

Now, ESIC, vide its circular dated 9th December, 2021, has requested all the employers to enter UAN of their employees in the Insurance Module of ESIC Corporation for the ease of access to various provisions of the Act. It also circulated the process flow for seeding the UAN number in the Insurance Module.

Refer to the attached process flow document.

India

Updated: 30th October, 2021

EPFO Credits the Interest of 8.5% to the Members

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation as per its earlier announcement made by its circular dated 30th October, 2021, has credited interest at the rate of 8.5 percent to all its account holder for the Financial Year 2020-21.

Members can check the balance by: Sending an SMS to 7738299899 by typing EPFOHO UAN ENG.

Giving a missed call to 011-22901406.

Downloading the PF pass book via EPFO website or UMANG app.

India

Updated: 6th December, 2021

Enrolling Contractual & Daily wage employees under EPF & MP Act

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation in continuation of its earlier circulars as attached has instructed all the Regional Provident Fund Commissioners to take all the necessary steps immediately to ensure the online enrollment of all the contract, casual, and outsourced workers engaged by the Government departments, public sector undertakings, and autonomous/statutory bodies of Central/State Government. EPFO has advised the Regional Provident Fund Commissioners also to apprise the Principal Employers of their responsibilities in respect of the coverage of contract/ casual employees engaged by them directly or through various agencies and contractors. The above said advice is circulated by the EPFO vide its File No. Compliance/Contractual Employees/PolicyMatter/2021/3259, dated 6th December, 2021.

India

Updated:November, 2021

EPFO revises the Form 11

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation has revised the Form 11, which is a declaration given by an employee who is taking up new employment in any Establishment on which EPF Scheme, 1952 and EPS, 1995 is applicable. This is used to declare previous employment, UAN details, KYC details, basic contacts, and other details of an employee. The revised format is attached here for reference.

India

Updated:November, 2021

EPFO decides on automatic transfer of PF Fund

The apex decision-making body of Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation, the Central Board of Trustees (CBT), at the 229th meeting has approved the development of centralized IT-enabled systems after which employees will not have to get their PF fund transferred when they change jobs.

Once the system is developed by the C-DAC (Center for Development of Advanced Computing), the employees’ PF account number will remain the same if they change their job and they won’t have to worry about the account transfer. The system will facilitate the de-duplication and merger of all PF accounts of any member. The field functionalities will move on a central database in a phased manner enabling smoother operations and enhanced service delivery.

India

Updated: 8th November, 2021

ESIC Extends Atal Beemit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana

The Employees’ State Insurance Corporation, vide notification No. N-12/13/01/ 2019-P&D, dated 8th November, 2021, has extended Atal Beemit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana for a further period from 1st July, 2021 to 30th June, 2022. "Atal Beemit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana” is a welfare measure in the form of cash compensation for employees (Insured Persons) who have been in insurable employment for a minimum period of two years immediately before his/her unemployment. Those who were unemployed on or before 23rd March, 2020 and on or after 1st January 2021 will be eligible for unemployment benefit at a rate of 25% of wages. The enhanced rate of unemployment benefit (50% of wages) and relaxed conditions are applicable for those who were unemployed during the period 24th March 2020 to 31st Dec 2020. It has enabled a link at http://www.esic.in as IP portal namely, ABVKY claim creation, which facilitates online submission of claims directly with respective ESIC Branch office. The relief will be paid directly to the bank accounts of employees.

India

Updated: November, 2021

EPFO explains the E-nomination filing process

EPFO members can now file the nomination online by visiting the member portal . The new facility can be availed by EPFO members if their mobile number is linked with UAN and the Aadhaar verification is complete. With the completion of this e‑nomination, any earlier nominations would be considered void.

It is also important to note that once a marital status of a member changes, a fresh nomination has to be completed as the earlier nomination will be considered void.

We have attached notes and process guidelines for completing your nomination on the PF portal. Please ensure that the documents mentioned in important notes are included while filing the nomination.

In case if you face any technical issues while updating the e-nomination, kindly raise a grievance by using the following link.

India

Updated: November, 2021

Know the Basics of Building and Other Construction Workers Act, 1996

Please find a note on “The Building and Other Construction Workers Act, 1996,” it's applicability on industries, various compliance processes, and the recent judgement by the Honorable Supreme Court of India which states that cess under the Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Cess Act, 1996 can be levied only on civil work and not on supply contract.

India

Updated: 16th November, 2021

ESIC Extends due date of Depositing ESI Contributions and for Filing Returns

The Employees’ State Insurance Corporation, vide circular No- P-11/12/Misc/1/2019 (M)-Rev.II, dated 16th November, 2021, has extended the due date for paying the contributions for the month of October 2021 to 30th November, 2021, instead of 15th November, 2021. The due has also been extended for filing the return of contributions for the period of April 2021 to September 2021 to 15th December, 2021 instead of 11th November, 2021.

This is due to the system breakdown in IT during the period for performing various online tasks in ESIC Panchdeep module.

India

Updated: 8th November, 2021

Seeding of UAN Number in the ESIC Insurance Module

Employees’ State Insurance Corporation has made a provision to capture UAN data in Employer’s Module of ESI Corporation, where employers can enter the UAN of the Insured Person(s). The ESIC in its last meeting held on 5th October 2021, further directed the concerned ESIC authorities that UAN of minimum 75 lakh workers should be updated in the insurance module of the ESI Corporation by 24th February 2022. In pursuance of the same, the ESI Corporation, vide Circular No. P-11/12/UAN/2021-Rev.II, dated 8th November 2021, has directed all the responsible ESIC authorities and the regional/sub-regional offices to take all the necessary measures even to contact the employer to ensure the same and the progress of updations will be monitored by the ESIC headquarter on a weekly basis in a prescribed format suggested to the officials. Currently the ESIC portal is not working effectively. However, such enforcement will be made soon and we may come back detailing the process later.

India

Updated: 15th November, 2021

Deadline for Mandatory Seeding of Aadhaar Number with UAN Extended

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation, vide Circular No. BKG-27/7/2020-BKG-Part(1)/E-40100/173, dated 15th November 2021, has further extended the deadline for mandatory seeding of Aadhaar number with UAN till 30th November 2021.

India

Updated: 30th October, 2021

Employees’ Provident Fund Rate of Interest 2020-21

The Central Provident Fund authority, vide web circular No. INV-11/1/2020-INV, dated 30th October 2021, has requested all the Regional Provident Fund Commissioners, Officers-In-Charge, Regional Offices, etc. to take all the necessary actions to credit the interest for 2020-21 to the EPF account of each member at the rate of 8.5% per annum.

India

Updated: 8th November, 2021

Aadhaar (Authentication and Offline Verification) Regulation, 2021

The Unique Identification Authority of India. vide notification number K-11020/240/2021/ Auth/UIDAI (No.2 of 2021), dated 8th November 2021, has notified the Aadhaar (Authentication and Offline Verification) Regulations, 2021. This Act will supersede The Aadhaar (Authentication) Regulations, 2016.

This regulations will regulate all the Aadhaar-based online or offline authentication facilities, such as:
1.Yes/No authentication facility, which may be carried out for below mentioned authentications:
A. Demographic authentication
B. One-time PIN-based authentication
C. Biometric-based authentication
D. Multi-factor authentication/ A combination of two or more of the above modes of authentication

2. e-KYC authentication, which may be carried out only using OTP and/or biometric authentication.

3.Types of Offline Verification —
A. QR Code verification
B. (Aadhaar Paperless Offline e-KYC verification
C. e-Aadhaar verification
D. Offline Paper based verification
E. Any other type of Offline verification introduced by the Authority from time to time

4. Virtual Identity number (VID) - Aadhaar number holder may generate or retrieve his/her VID through UIDAI website, SMS, mobile application, eAadhaar download and any other means as provided by Authority from time to time. The Aadhaar number holder may use VID in lieu of Aadhaar number for online authentication or e-KYC.
Also, it explains the Aadhaar Number Capture Service Token or ANCS Token, which means an encrypted number (valid for short time) generated for an Aadhaar number by the Authority for completion of an authentication transaction. UID Token which means a 72-character alphanumeric string generated by the Authority mapped to the Aadhaar number. Also, “Virtual Identifier” which means an interchangeable 16-digit random number mapped with the Aadhaar number of the Aadhaar holder.
The Act also explains the roles, responsibilities, and code of conduct of Authentication Service Agencies and regulate the storage and maintenance of Authentication Transaction Data.

India

Updated: October, 2021

EPFO Services in UMANG and DigiLocker

The UMANG (Unified Mobile Application for New Age Governance) and storage of data in DigiLocker app are the key initiatives introduced under the Digital India program to develop a common, unified platform and mobile app to facilitate a single point of access to all Government services. This application is available in Hindi, English and other languages. Services related to The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation are also available on the App which can be used by the EPF members (i.e. employees) as well as the employers.

Following are some of the services which can be availed by using UMANG:
• View Pass book
• Submission of claim
• Track claim status
• Activate UAN
• Download scheme certificate
• Submission of Jeevan Praman
• Download Pension Payment Order (PPO)
• Aadhaar seeding with the UAN
• Register and track grievances
• Search Establishment(s)
• Employers can also view remittance details and TRRN status

DigiLocker is a secure cloud-based platform for storing, sharing, and verifying documents/ certificates such as UAN Card, Pension Payment Order (PPO) and Scheme Certificates, etc. All documents can be downloaded and kept in DigiLocker app. This may eliminate the need for physical documents in future.

India

Updated: September, 2021

Employee Provident Fund Composite Claim Form

EPFO had introduced a simplified form called Combined and Composite Claim Form (CCF) to claim PF amount, pension, and EDLI instead for separate forms. To ensure settling these claims at the earliest, certain guidelines need to be followed to avoid errors in submission.

This document contains those important guidelines for the benefit of the claimants.

India

Updated: 7th September, 2021

ESIC – Appointment of Chairman, VC, and Members

The Ministry of Labour and Employment, vide notification No. S.O.3632(E), dated- 7th September 2021, has amended its earlier notification No- S.O.1831(E), dated- 7th May 2018 regarding the appointment of Chairman, Vice Chairman, and Members of the ESI Corporation.

As per the new notification, the Chairman of ESIC will be: The Minister for Labour and Employment, Government of India, New Delhi. (As per the earlier notification this was under the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Government of India, New Delhi). The Vice-chairman will be the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Government of India, New Delhi (As per the earlier notification, this was under the Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Labour & Employment, New Delhi).

The Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Labour and Employment, New Delhi and The additional Secretary/ Joint Secretary to the Government of India (Bureau Head of Social Security Division), Ministry of Labour and Employment, New Delhi, will be the members of ESIC apart from the other members appointed by the Central Government under Section 4(c) of the Act.

India

Updated: 11th September, 2021

EPFO North East Region

Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation, vide Circular No. BKG-27/5/2021-BKG/, dated 11th September 2021, has extended the due date for mandatory seeding of AADHAAR in UAN till 31st December 2021 in North East Region, comprising states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland & Tripura considering the low AADHAAR penetration in the mentioned administrative zones. Earlier the EPFO has given the time up to 1st September 2021 for mandatory seeding of AADHAAR in UAN for PAN India. EPFO has also clarified that, for areas other than the above and for the classes of industries other than mentioned in the attached Circular, delay in filing of ECRs for wage months of August 2021 & September 2021, only in respect of EPF members due to non-seeding of AADHAAR in the UANs, will not be presumed as employer’s default and penal damages will not be levied under Section 14B of the EPF & MP Act, 1952.

Refer to the attached Circular for detailed information.

India

Updated: 31st August, 2021

Separate Accounts Within the PF Account To Operationalise New Income-Tax Rule

The Government of India, Ministry of Finance, vide notification No. 95/2021/F.No.370142/36/2021-TPL, dated 31st August 2021, has brought 25th Amendment to the Income Tax Rules, 1962 in order to operationalise the new tax on PF income arising out of employee's contributions exceeding 2,50,000 INR (Two lakh and fifty thousand rupees) a year. For the purpose of calculating taxable interest, separate accounts within the PF account shall be maintained during the previous year 2021-22 and all previous years for taxable contribution and non-taxable contribution made by a member.

This Amendment will come into force with effect from 1st April 2022.

India

Updated: 26th August, 2021

EPFO Notifies Guidelines For Correcting Members’ Details

EPFO, vide a Circular dated 26th August 2021, addressed to all the Employers, has given a detailed guidelines for the rectification of members KYC details. The EPFO has brought more clarity through illustrative examples and by mentioning the documents to be submitted for such corrections. Also, it has explained whether it can be corrected online or offline.

India

Updated: 31st August, 2021

EPF & MP Act, 1952 – Relief to Establishments

EPFO, vide Circular No. C-I/MISC/Pandemic Relief/2021/Vol-I, dated 31st August 2021, has given relief to all the establishments covered under Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 from levy of penal damages for delay in deposit of dues/ filing of ECR for wage month May 2021 in respect of EPF members due to non-seeding of Aadhaar in UANs.

India

Updated: 23rd August, 2021

EPFO Direction To All Field Offices To Drive E-nomination

The Central PF Office, vide Web Circular No. Pension-3/E-nomination Monitoring Cell/pt. (35734)/1770, dated 23rd August 2021, has advised all the PF Zonal/ field offices to maximize E-nomination filings. It has also advised the concerned field offices to help the members who do not have access to computer or mobile phone by getting their nomination filed online when they visit the office. A target has been set for a of minimum 5,000 E-nominations to be filled every week in each Zone.

Refer the attached letter as reference.

India

Updated: 24th August, 2021

Phase-Wise Implementation Of ESIC Scheme By 2021-22

The Central ESIC, vide Circular No. N-15/14/03/PP/2020-P&D, dated 24th August 2021, has advised all the state governments to Implement the ESIC scheme phase-wise in all the non-notified districts by 31st March 22. The targets and the districts are listed in the Annexure “A” of the attached circular.

Refer the attached copy of the Circular for more details.

India

Updated: 23rd August, 2021

Death Claims to be settled within 3 working days

The Central Provident Fund Commissioner (Pension) by letter No. Pension-I/Misc/death claims/2020, dated 23-08-2021, has advised all the Zonal Offices and all the Regional PF Offices to ensure that pension cases in general and death cases in particular are to be settled within 3 working days. In all death cases of monthly pension, Pension Payment Order to be generated and dispatched to banks no later than 7 days of receipt of the claim. Copy of the said letter is attached herewith for your reference.

India

Updated: August, 2021

WhatsApp correspondence with the regional PF offices

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation has created an “EPF WhatsApp helpline number.” This mode of communication has been created as a grievance redressal mechanism for PF subscribers and Employers. Different numbers are created for the various regional PF offices across the country. This is to ensure ease of communication between the employer and respective regional PF offices for raising concerns or enquiries. We recommend all employers to use this facility to raise employee/ employer concerns with the regional PF offices. This can be considered as the fastest way of receiving written communication from the regional PF offices. This facility would also ensure that physical visits to the department are reduced, considering the prevailing COVID–19 situation in the country. Enclosed are the WhatsApp numbers of the various regional PF offices.

India

Updated: 11th August, 2021

ESIC COVID-19 RELIEF SCHEME NOTIFIED

In pursuance of its Draft Notification on COVID-19 Relief scheme dated 18th June 2021, ESIC has notified its final notification No. N-12/13/1/2019-P&D, dated 11th August 2021.

As per the notification, in case of death of IP due to COVID-19, the eligible dependant family members of IP will be paid periodic payments directly to their bank accounts.
1. Eligibility conditions of the scheme are as under:
  a. The IP who died due to COVID-19 disease must have been registered on the ESIC online portal at least three months prior to the date of diagnosis of COVID-19 disease resulting in his/her death.
  b. The deceased IP must have been in employment on the date of diagnosis of COVID-19 disease, and contributions for at least 70 days should have been paid or payable in respect of him/ her during a period of maximum one year immediately preceding the diagnosis of COVID-19 disease resulting in death.
2. In case of death of the IP due to COVID-19 the eligible dependant/relatives of the deceased IP shall be eligible to receive the periodical payment under the scheme.
3. To know about the eligible relatives/dependant, please refer to the notification attached.
4. 90% of the average daily wages of the deceased IP, which will be called as the full rate of the relief, will be paid to the dependants of the IP who died due to COVID-19 disease.
5. This scheme will be effective for two years w.e.f 24th March 2020.

The minimum relief under the scheme shall be Rs.1800/- per month.

India

Updated: 11th August, 2021

Extension Of The Atal Beemit Vyakti Kalyan Yojna Under ESIC

The ESIC has drafted a notification for extending the Atal Beemit Vyakti Kalyan Yojna for a further period of one year from 1st July 2021 to 30th June 2022 by its notification No. N-12/13/01/2019-P&D, dated 11th August 2021. Any objections or suggestions can be addressed to e-mail Id: dirpnd@esic.nic.in within thirty (30) days from the date of publication of the draft.

India

Updated: 3rd August, 2021

Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act

The Government of India vide notification No. S.O.3123(E), dated 3rd August 2021, has amended the guidelines under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, to assess the extent of specified disabilities in a person published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, Sub-section (ii) of Section 3 vide No. S.O.76(E), dated 4th January 2018.
In the said guidelines following paragraph will be substituted in Annexure II, under heading ‘VII, Disability caused due to blood disorder’ for paragraph 26.2.
“26.2 Type of disability certificate – The process of evaluation shall be dynamic and to be reviewed periodically at an interval of three years, as these diseases are progressive in nature, however, in patients with severe disability with score above 80%, permanent certificate shall be issued subject to proof of survival.”
As per the earlier guidelines, the period of interval for review was one year and by this amendment, the period of interval for review has been increased to three years.

India

Updated: August, 2021

EPFO

EMPLOYEE PROVIDENT FUND ORGANISATION - CLARIFICATION REGARDING ELIGIBLE NOMINEES IN EPS/EDLI

EPFO has clarified about the two types of nominees for EPF/EDLI and Pension scheme based on the member’s marital status which can be kept in mind while updating the E-Nomination in the EPF member portal.

FOR UNMARRIED MEMBER FOR UNMARRIED MEMBER If the Member, male or female is a bachelor or spinster having family: Dependent Parents or any of the family members is eligible for EPF/EDLI Scheme. (Nomination can be made for one or more persons belonging to his family duly mentioning the percentage of share). If the Member, male or female is a bachelor or spinster having no family: Any person or persons who are nominated by the member are eligible for EPS/EDLI Scheme. (Nomination can be made for one or more persons duly mentioning the percentage of share).

FOR MARRIED MEMBER For Male member under EPF/EDLI scheme, eligible nominees are – his wife, his children (whether married or unmarried), his dependent parents, his deceased son’s widow and children. Under EPS Scheme, eligible nominees are – his wife, sons and daughters (including legally adopted children). For Female member under EPF/EDLI scheme, eligible nominees are – her husband, her children (whether married or unmarried), her dependent parents, her deceased son’s widow and children. Under EPS scheme, eligible nominees are her husband, sons and daughters (including legally adopted children).
(Nomination can be made for one or more persons belonging to his family duly mentioning the percentage of share) NOTES • If a member has a family at the time of making a nomination, the nomination shall be in favour of one or more persons belonging to his family for EPF/EDLI schemes and any nomination made by such member in favour of a person not belonging to his family shall be invalid.
• Member has to make fresh nomination after his/her marriage, and any nomination made before his/her marriage shall be deemed to be invalid.
• At the time of making a nomination, if the member has no family, the nomination may be in favour of any person or persons but if the person subsequently acquires a family, such nomination shall forthwith be deemed to be INVALID and the member has to make a fresh nomination.
• Members may nominate their nominees any number of times through e-Nomination in the member portal and the latest nomination will be valid.

India

Updated: 17 th June, 2021

EPFO: Social Security Cover

EPFO vide notification no. RO/CHN-1/North/Orphan Pension/Regl/2021, dated 17th June 2021, has provided social security cover to members and their families in old age as well as in case of untimely death of the earning member. This also includes deaths due to COVID-19. In the event of untimely passing away of a member of the Employees’ Pension Scheme, 1995, in addition to widow/widower and children pension, orphans are eligible for pension under EPS 1995. Pension to orphans, is equal to 75% of the monthly widow pension with minimum pension of Rs. 750 /- p.m. to each child.

The family of the deceased member including orphans are also entitled to benefits under the EDLI Scheme 1976. The maximum benefit under para 22(3) has now been increased to Rs.7 lakhs, while minimum benefit has been reinstated as Rs.2.5 lakhs w.e.f., 15.02.2020. Furthermore, now the minimum benefit of Rs.2.5 lakhs & maximum benefit of Rs.7 lakhs shall also be available in such cases where the deceased member was in continuous employment for 12 months prior to his death in the same establishment/multiple establishments.

However, it is noticed that it becomes difficult for the orphans to claim these benefits as loss of parents, not only results in mental trauma for such child, but may also result in his/her physical relocation. Therefore a need is felt that in such cases the employer of the parents should also proactively assist the orphans in claiming their due benefits under the Employees Provident Fund & Act 1952.

Therefore, all employers are requested to immediately forward the list of deceased employees, contact number of the families, UAN / PF No. of the establishment as per the prescribed format in the notification, who may have lost their lives due to the onset of Pandemic, to the designated officer.

India

Updated: June, 2021

New feature in the Employers PF portal

Government of India & Regional PF Commissioner – I, Dehradun region, through its letter addressed to all employers, has incorporated new functionality in the employers portal for the benefit of the Principal Employers since February, 2021. The employers now can view whether the benefits provided under the Aatmanirbar Bharat Rozgar Yojana Scheme (ABRY) Scheme have been availed by the contractors or not in employers portal. In case the benefits have been availed by the Contractors, Principal Employers can ensure that they don't pay the employer's share to contractors in respect of 'New Employees' as defined in the ABRY Scheme. All the establishments that engage contractors must ensure that they are registered in the Principal Employer Portal, irrespective of whether they have availed benefits or not. This portal also allows Principal Employers to verify if the PF dues in respect of all contractual employees are remitted within time by the contractors or not.

India

Updated: 29th May, 2021

Registration of DSC & e-sign

EPFO, vide its official letter, has provided new functionality on 29th May 2021, where a change has been made in the employer unified portal for registration of DSC / E-sign. It enables the employer to upload the scanned copy of signed letter (less than 50 kb) through their respective login. After such an upload, it will be verified and approved by APFC (Accounts) via unified portal office login. Example with explanations is mentioned in the foot note.

India

Updated: 15th June, 2021

Draft COVID-19 RELIEF SCHEME

ESIC, vide Notification No. N-12/13/01/2019-P&D, dated 15th June 2021, issued a draft notification on ESIC COVID-19 RELIEF SCHEME for Insured persons under the ESIC Act. Objections and suggestions have been invited for the next 30 days at the email id and address mentioned.

1. Eligibility conditions of the scheme are:
a. The IP who died due to COVID-19 disease must have been registered on the ESIC online portal at least three months prior to the date of diagnosis of the COVID-19 disease resulting in his/ her death.
b. The deceased IP must have been in employment on the date of the diagnosis of COVID-19 disease and his/ her contributions for at least 70 days should have been paid or payable in respect of him/ her during a period of maximum one year immediately preceding the diagnosis of COVID-19 disease resulting in death.

2. In case of death of the IP due to COVID-19, the mentioned relatives may need to follow the process followed by the deceased IP and shall be eligible to receive periodical payments under the Scheme.

3. 90% of the average daily wages of the deceased IP, which will be called as full rate of the relief, will be paid to the dependents of the IP who died due to COVID-19 disease as per the manner prescribed.

4. In case the deceased person does not leave spouse or legitimate or adopted child or widowed mother, the relief shall be payable to other dependents as prescribed.

The minimum relief under the scheme shall be Rs.1800/-per month.

India

Updated: 14th June, 2021

ESIC – Draft Rules

ESIC, vide notification no. G.S.R. 400(E), dated 14th June 2021, has issued draft rules that have added the following provision in Rule 55 of the Employees' State Insurance (Central) Rules 1950, which states:
• Provided further that in case an insured woman who is in receipt of Maternity Benefit and due to reason of which, a shorter contribution period is available to her in the contribution period ending in the Maternity Benefit falls, she shall be qualified to claim sickness benefit in the corresponding benefit period if the contribution in respect of her were payable for not less than half the number of days available for working in such contribution period.
• To give an example, if a member joins on 1st September and her contribution ends on the contribution period, i.e. 30th September, then she needs to contribute for a minimum 50% of the contribution days or for 15 days and she will get sickness benefit in the corresponding benefit period after 9 months. That means, for the January to June benefit period, she will get sickness benefit entitlement on maternity from 15th June for that contribution period.

India

Updated: 15th June, 2021

EPFO - Extension to the date of implementation

EPFO, vide notification no. WSU/15(1)2019/ATR/529, dated 15th June 2021, extended the date of implementation from 1st June 2021 to 1st September 2021 on the mandates on seeding of AADHAAR number for filing of ECR.

India

Updated: 3rd June, 2021

ESIC Covid-19 Relief Scheme

ESIC, vide notification no. P-11/14/11/COVID-19 Relief Scheme/2021-Bft II, dated 03rd June 2021, has approved the “ESIC Covid-19 Relief Scheme” which extends welfare measures for IPs who are employees under ESIC Act. This scheme provides financial relief to the dependents of the IP in case of his/her death due to COVID-19. In such a case, the eligible dependent family members of the IP will be paid periodic payments directly into their bank account. The scheme is valid for a period of two years from 24th March 2020.

Eligibility:
1.The deceased IP must have been registered 3 months prior to the diagnosis of COVID-19 in ESIC portal.
2.The deceased IP must be in active employment status on the date of diagnosis of COVID-19 and must have contributed for at least 70 days within the 1 year prior to the date of diagnosis.

The minimum relief of the scheme will be Rs. 1800 /- per month. A maximum of 90 % of the average daily wage is prescribed in the notification. The dependents need to meet the conditions prescribed and provide the relevant supporting documents and ID proofs at the nearest ESIC office to prove eligibility for the relief fund.

The spouse/widow of the deceased IP shall be provided medical care on the same lines as an IP who died due to employment injuries. This can be availed on depositing Rs.120 /- lump-sum for one year.

All claims will be settled within 15 days from the date of receipt of the complete claim application.

India

Updated: 1st June, 2021

Benefit for nursing mothers

The Ministry of Labour and Employment, vide its letter No. S-36012/03/2015-SS-I(Part), dated 1st June 2021, addressed to the principal secretaries, directed employers to add/encourage the provision of "work from home" benefit for nursing mothers by extending Sec 5(5) of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 and Amendment Act, 2017. After the Maternity leave benefit period, the provision allows a nursing mother, in mutual agreement with the employer, if the nature of work permits, to do work from home for a period of one year, keeping in view the vulnerability of nursing mothers and their babies during the COVID-19 pandemic and to save them from getting infected by the coronavirus. The Ministry of Labour & Employment has issued an advisory to all the State Governments and UTs to encourage employers to allow such provisions and the State Governments and UTs have been requested that steps may be taken to create awareness about section 5(5) of the Act amongst the women workforce and the employers.

India

Updated: 3rdJune, 2021

Draft Rules

The Government of India, vide notification number G.S.R. 385(E), dated 3rd June 2021, has issued draft rules under the Code on Social Security (Employee’s Compensation) (Central) Rules, 2021. The Employee’s Compensation rules are rolled out now since they were not provided earlier in the Central Rules under the same code. The draft Rules will be taken into consideration after the expiry of forty-five days from the Gazette date. The Central Government is accepting the suggestions and objections from the public and the same can be may be addressed to Shri Rahul Bhagat, Director, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Room No.302, Shram Shakti Bhawan, Rafi Marg, New Delhi-110001 or by e-mail – rahul.bhagat@ips.gov.in.

As these Rules come into effect, the following rules will be repealed:
(i) Employee’s Compensation Rules, 1924
(ii) Employee’s Compensation (Transfer of Money) Rules, 1935; and
(iii) Employee’s Compensation (Venue of Proceedings) Rules, 1996.

The arrangements for funds transfer with other countries under the overhead of compensation under section 159 are made possible through these rules. The application method and other processes for claims are also mentioned herein. The detailed provisions are mentioned in the notification.

India

Updated: June, 2021

Death Cases Entitlements & Benefits

The Employees’ Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme (EDLI), originally launched in 1976, is administered by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organization to provide a lump sum financial assistance to the family of a deceased employee. In the incident of an employee’s death, the legal nominees/heirs of the deceased are eligible to receive settlement under the Payment of Gratuity Act. The notification explains the PF accumulations, EDLI, and pensions that can be claimed from the Labor Welfare Board of the respective states within six months of the incident. The procedure for claiming the PF benefits is detailed in the notification enclosed.

India

Updated: 1st April, 2021

ESIC

ESIC, vide circular no. X-11/14/6/2015-P&D, dated 01st April 2021, has issued the state-wise and district-wise updated list of implementations under the heading of fully/partial/non-notified states/UTs/districts under ESIC 2.0/vision – 2022, in view of the maximum coverage of areas and benefits across the country.

India

Updated: 31st May, 2021

Labour and Employment

The Ministry of Labour and employment, vide notification no. HRM-8/V/12(18)2007/UP/Vol-I/271, dated 31st May 2021, has directed all PF Commissioners to process the medical advance claims without documentation in case of medical emergency leading to hospitalization on account of serious life threatening diseases including Covid 19. The circular is applicable for employees covered under CS(MA) and CGHS Rules.

Claim can be submitted to PF authorities without estimate by employee or the family member of patient and an amount of up to Rs. 1 lakh maybe granted by PF. If the amount of such an expense is above one lakh, then additional advance would be available based on the medical expenses according to the existing provisions. This advance can be credited to the member account or to the hospital directly as per the request of the family. Such a claimant will have to submit the bills within 45 days of discharge.

India

Updated: 21st May, 2021

EPFO – Advance for COVID related expenses

EPFO, through the attached press release, has stated that members of EPFO can avail a second non-refundable Covid-advance to meet their financial needs. Under this provision, non-refundable withdrawal can be availed by the member to the extent of 3 months of PF wages or 75% of the PF balance, whichever is less.

India

Updated: 1st June, 2021

Introduction Of AADHAR For EPFO Benefits

EPFO, vide its official circular exercising the power conferred through the section 142 of Social Security Code 2020, has stated to its members that ECR shall be allowed to be filed only for those members whose AADHAAR numbers are seeded and verified with UANs prior to 1st June 2021. To avail uninterrupted services of the EPFO, members can validate their AADHAAR with UAN through the online e-KYC facility available on the Official UMANG Portal/App.

With the above coming into effect from May 2021 contributions payable in Jun 2021, all contributing members will have to seed AADHAAR to UAN as KYC to allow their contributions to be remitted through monthly ECR. It is important to have this activity completed by their employees as this would not only have an impact on remittance of contributions though ECR but would also involve interest and penal damages for late remittance for such employees who do not have AADHAAR seeded to UAN unless such contributions are remitted through miscellaneous challans. Remittance of contributions through miscellaneous challan would have an impact on employee related claims as transfer of contributions from establishment suspense account to employee account is a time consuming process wherein timelines cannot be specified.

India

Updated: 25th May, 2021

Medical Benefits For ESIC Pensioners

ESIC, vide memorandum and circular of Annexure A, F. No. D-12/16/1/2012-E-VI.Vol.II, dated 25th May 2021, has issued the revised guidelines for implementation of ESIC Pensioner Medical Scheme – 2006. These guidelines come after receiving the recommendations of the ESIC Corporation committee meeting, with a view to consolidating and rationalizing the instructions of ESIC Pensioner Medical Scheme, as mentioned in below pointers:
1. Entry & exit process to and from the ESIC- Pensioner Medical Scheme and fixed medical allowance - the Member has to mandatorily opt for PMS before the date of retirement. If such an option is not exercised, the member would be eligible for fixed medical allowance from the next month of retirement. If the pensioner opts for PMS after the date of retirement, he can do so by paying Rs 30 as admission fee and refund the fixed medial allowance received. Further opting out by the pensioner would result in losing both the benefits FMA and PMS
2. Eligibility of Super Specialty Medical Treatment – As along as the pensioner has opted for PMS, the pensioner would be eligible for super specialty treatment and the condition of six months waiting period has been withdrawn.
3. Medical Treatment: Medical treatment for the pensioner with respect to cashless medical treatment comprising of treatment in case of emergency, treatment at ESIC hospital, treatment from ESIC empanelled hospital– Further treatment can be done on re-imbursement basis including ex-post facto approval of treatment in cases wherein the pensioner has taken treatment without the approval of the ESIC authority assigned to provide such approval
4. OPT facility: Pensioners aged 75 years and above are allowed direct consultation with specialists of ESIC empanelled hospitals without a referral from ESIC authority on cashless basis
5. Appointment of ESIC regional director as Nodal Officer for coordinating ESIC PMS for the concerned regions
6. Issuance of pensioner medical cards for settlement of claims along with individual PMS identity cards for pensioner, spouse, and other applicable beneficiaries
7. Provision to tie-up with private hospitals, etc.
8. A few other provisions as per existing ESIC-PMS to continue like, contribution process, entitlement of wards, family definition, appointment of AMA(s), meaning of recognized hospital, reimbursement of emergency claims, medical advance, prescribed period for claim settlement & travelling allowance.

The above changes would ensure benefits to ESIC pensioners are at par with the Central Government health scheme. This is a welcome move to ensure the right old age benefits reach the pensioners.

India

Updated: 20th May, 2021

ESIC

Aadhar not mandatory for availing treatment under ESIC.
With the implementation of the Section 142 of the Code on Social Security, 2020, Aadhar for the employees or unorganized workers or any other person, for himself or dependents, has been exempted avail services, seek benefits, receive payments etc. under this code, rules, regulations, or schemes made or framed under it.
ESIC has now reiterated that no insured person shall be denied any benefit under ESIC Act 1948 for want of Aadhaar.

India

Updated: 30th April, 2021

Code on Social Security

The Ministry of Labour and employment, vide notification no. S.O.1730(E), dated 30th April 2021, has stated that Section 142 of the Code on Social Security will come into effect from 3rd May 2021, which states the applicability of AADHAAR for Social Security benefits.

Sec. 142 of the Social Security Code 2020 which states ‘the applicability of AADHAAR’ is included as reference.

India

Updated: 4th May, 2021

Recognition of Negotiating Union

The Ministry of Labour and Employment, vide notification no. G.S.R. 317(E), dated 4th May, 2021, has issued the draft Rules termed as the Industrial Relations (Central) Recognition of Negotiating Union or Negotiating Council and Adjudication of Disputes of Trade Unions Rules, 2021. This maybe considered as an extension to the IR (Central) Code with the new Rule specifically for Negotiating Union or Negotiating Council and Adjunction of Disputes of Trade Unions.
Objections and suggestions have been invited from the public in a specified proforma to the following within 30 days from the date of the attached notification.

Shri Sanjeev Nanda,
Under Secretary to the Government of India,
Ministry of Labour and Employment, Room No 17,
Shram Shakti Bhawan, Rafi Marg, New Delhi-110001
Email: sanjeev.dom@nic.in

Dr. R.G. Meena,
Deputy Chief Labour Commissioner (Central),
Ministry of Labour and Employment,
Room No. 506, Shram Shakti Bhawan, Rafi Marg, New Delhi-110001
Email: deputyclc-mole@gov.in

India

Updated: 29 thApril, 2021

Employees Deposit Linked Insurance (EDLI) scheme

EPFO hiked the maximum assurance benefit under EDLI to Rs.7 lakhs
Employees Deposit Linked Insurance (EDLI) scheme is a mandatory insurance cover provided to all EPF members. Under EDLI, the registered nominee receives a lump- sum payment in the event of death of the insured person during the period of service.

The Scheme may be called The Employees’ Deposit Linked Insurance (Amendment) Scheme, 2021. This Scheme has come into force effective from 28th April 2021, except sub clause (iv) of clause (b) paragraph 2, which shall be deemed to have come into force from 15th February 2020. The assurance benefit shall not be less than two lakh and fifty thousand rupees. The assurance benefit of six lakh rupees (Gazette notification dated 15th February 2018) is enhanced to the maximum benefit of seven lakh rupees.

India

Updated: 31stMarch, 2021

Public Holiday

The Government of India, vide office memo dated 31st March, 2021, has declared 14th April, 2021, a public holiday to all banks on the occasion of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's birthday.

India

Updated: 11thMarch, 2021

One-time relaxation in contribution conditions to avail ESI medical benefit

Due to nationwide lockdown in March 2020, a number of ESI covered units were shut down resulting in non-payment of contribution towards the ESI scheme. To allow those ESI covered employees to avail medical benefits/reimbursement of medical claims, ESI has notified a one-time relaxation in entitlement criteria for the contribution period April 2020 to Sep 2020.

As per this notification, no break in contribution of funds will be accounted towards ESI scheme for the period Apr 2020 to Sep 2020. It will be considered as ‘contribution received’ to process the entitlement for medical benefit including super-specialty treatment services of a pre-existing insured person.

The detailed notification is attached.

India

Updated: 1stMarch, 2021

Wages Rules 2021

The Ministry of Labour and Employment, vide notification no. G.S.R. 143(E), dated 1st March, 2021, has issued the draft of Code on Wages (Central Advisory Board) Rules 2021, recommending the procedure and constitution of the Central Advisory Board. It invites objections/suggestions to be filed in the next 45 days.

India

Updated: 1stMarch, 2021

POSH ICC guidelines

PoSH is the short-form for the Act of 2013 that makes workplaces safe for women. To carry out the PoSH Act in the letter and in spirit, an organization has to execute certain procedures and requirements. They are detailed in this document.

India

Updated: 12thFebruary, 2021

EPFO facilitates Principal Employers to view their Contractor PF compliance

Further to our alert dated 12th February, 2021, contractor PF compliance updates are detailed as follows:
• The Principal Employer can register the details of contractors in their PF login. This registration of contractor/s can be made by entering the
PF Establishment ID, Contract Start date, and upload of work order.
• Once the Principal Employer has added a contractor, they will be able to view the compliance linked to the contract employees working for them.
• The principal employer can upload the wages for the months which fall under the period of contract.
• Upload of the wages will help the Principal Employer compare the wages on which the contractor has actually paid the PF dues.
• Upon registration by the principal employer, the contractor will be able to view these details under the PF login.
• The contractor can see the period of contract and the copy of the work order. In case an error with respect to mismatch of details like contract period, discrepancy in work order is found, they can disagree and record the remarks on the portal.
• Such disagreement from the contractor appears immediately in the principal employer login.
• The Principal employer has an option either to edit the details based on the contractor’s remarks/delete the contractor details if there is no such engagement. Alternatively, they can re-confirm the data if no discrepancy is found.

Ascent Comments: As per The Employees Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 read along with the provisions of The Employees Provident Funds Scheme 1952, the principal employer is responsible for the compliance of the contractor. This new feature provided by The Employees Provident Fund Organization will help the principal employer track the compliance of the contractors as it gives visibility on the payments made by the contractor based on the work order/agreement.

This requires close co-ordination between the principal employer and the contractor for data exchange with respect to employees’ UAN and other related data. The principal employer should be able to update the details of the employees deployed by the contractor.

We will provide further updates on the best practices that can be adopted with respect to registration and review of contractor compliance in the next few days.

India

Updated: 12thFebruary, 2021

EPFO facilitates Principal Employers to view their Contractor PF compliance

Further to our alert dated 12th February, 2021, contractor PF compliance updates are detailed as follows:
• The Principal Employer can register the details of contractors in their PF login. This registration of contractor/s can be made by entering the
PF Establishment ID, Contract Start date, and upload of work order.
• Once the Principal Employer has added a contractor, they will be able to view the compliance linked to the contract employees working for them.
• The principal employer can upload the wages for the months which fall under the period of contract.
• Upload of the wages will help the Principal Employer compare the wages on which the contractor has actually paid the PF dues.
• Upon registration by the principal employer, the contractor will be able to view these details under the PF login.
• The contractor can see the period of contract and the copy of the work order. In case an error with respect to mismatch of details like contract period, discrepancy in work order is found, they can disagree and record the remarks on the portal.
• Such disagreement from the contractor appears immediately in the principal employer login.
• The Principal employer has an option either to edit the details based on the contractor’s remarks/delete the contractor details if there is no such engagement. Alternatively, they can re-confirm the data if no discrepancy is found.

Ascent Comments: As per The Employees Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 read along with the provisions of The Employees Provident Funds Scheme 1952, the principal employer is responsible for the compliance of the contractor. This new feature provided by The Employees Provident Fund Organization will help the principal employer track the compliance of the contractors as it gives visibility on the payments made by the contractor based on the work order/agreement.

This requires close co-ordination between the principal employer and the contractor for data exchange with respect to employees’ UAN and other related data. The principal employer should be able to update the details of the employees deployed by the contractor.

We will provide further updates on the best practices that can be adopted with respect to registration and review of contractor compliance in the next few days.

India

Updated: 12thFebruary, 2021

EPFO

EPFO notifies a competent authority to approve member profile correction requests. Member profile correction requests such as change in Name, Gender, Date of Birth and Father name are categorised into Minor and Major corrections. Minor corrections include expansion of initials, insertion of father name as middle name as per Aadhaar, and change in surname of female employees after marriage. Major corrections are changes in the complete name, Father name, or correction in more than two fields, which require documentary evidence. APFC/RPFC II approves the minor corrections whereas RPFC I /RPFC II (OIC) approves the major corrections.

India

Updated: 1stFebruary, 2021

EPFO facilitates Principal Employers’ access to Contractor PF compliances

The Employees Provident Fund Organization has deployed a new facility in the Employer Unified Portal for principal employers to view EPF compliances of their contractors and contract workers. Through this new facility, details of contractors, amount, tenure and UANs of contract employees can be added. Employee-wise remittances made by contractors can be viewed by principal employers, helping them regulate the payment to contractors accordingly. The relevant notifications are enclosed.

India

Updated: January, 2021

EPF perks under ABRY

Further to our alert dated 6th January, 2021, under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana scheme, the central government offers financial assistance of EPF contributions for new hires, based on the number of employees in the organization. Frequently asked questions and answers are attached.

India

Updated: January, 2021

Health Services for ESIC Beneficiaries

ESIC beneficiaries to get Health Services in all 735 districts of India from 1st April 2021. The Employees State Insurance Corporation provides health services to Insured Persons through its health centres, dispensaries, and empanelled hospitals. As per the news release, the standing committee of the ESIC has approved provision of health services through hospitals and health centers empanelled under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (ABPMJAY). To ensure availability of medical facilities in newly-implemented areas, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is signed by ESIC with the National Health Authority. This facilitates ESIC Insured Persons to avail health services from ABPMJAY empaneled hospitals and ABPMJAY beneficiaries to access health facilities provided by ESIC hospitals and its health centers. More information and detailed notification is anticipated from the ESIC department.

India

Updated: 22ndJanuary, 2021

Introduction: Corporate Social Responsibility Policy

The Government of India vide notification number G.S.R. 40(E), dated 22nd January, 2021, introduced Companies (Corporate Social Responsibility Policy) Amendment Rules, 2021 as follows:
- Mandatory CSR project registration in Form CSR-1 w.e.f. 1st April, 2021
- Impact Assessment for big CSR projects
- Carry-forward and set off of CSR expenditure
- Annual action plan for CSR by Board every year in addition to CSR policy
- Tweaks in reporting formats of Board Report
- Mandatory disclosure of CSR projects and activities on website of company, if any
- Capital Asset acquisition and its holding broadly restricted to three bodies
- Transfer of unspent amount to Govt. notified fund in Schedule VII, unless specific fund is notified
- Disclosure in the Annual report under a separate section Annexure II format on CSR activities. This has to be included in the Board Report for the financial year on or after 1st April, 2020

India

Updated: January, 2021

Minimum Wages Act & Implementations

The Minimum Wages Act of 1948 dealing with how wages are administered and distributed has changed. In accordance with the Code on Wages, 2019, a consolidation of registers and filings is advised. Here is a conclusive list of the new rulings in the attachment.

India

Updated: January, 2021

Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana

As part of Aatmanirbhar Bharat 3.0 package, the central government has launched the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana with an aim to create new employment opportunities during the COVID-19 recovery phase. Through this scheme, the central government offers financial assistance of EPF contributions for new hires, based on the number of employees in the organization.

India

Updated:4th January, 2021

EPFO declared interest rate of 8.50% for FY 2019-20

No: INV-INV-11/1/2020-INV/2025, dated 04th January, 2021.
Ministry of Labour and Employment approves crediting interest @8.50% for the financial year 2019-20 to the account of each member as per Para 60 of EPF scheme, 1952. EPFO, through the above notification number, has directed all Regional Provident Fund offices to credit the interest to all account holders at the prescribed rate.

Interest rate declared for the year 2018-19 was 8.65%. There is a dip of 0.15% basis points for the year 2019-20 when compared with 2018-19.

India

Updated:1st January, 2021

ESIC extends due date for Half yearly return (April 2020 to September 2020)
till 15th January 2021

Employees State Insurance Corporation, exercising powers vested under regulation 100, has relaxed the provisions entered in regulation 26 of The Employees State Insurance (General) Regulations, 1950. It has extended the timeline to file the contribution return for the period April to September 2020 up to 15th January, 2021.

This return was due on 11th November, 2020 as the return has to be filed within 42 days from the end of half yearly contribution period that is September 2020.

This extension up to 15th January, 2021 is a one-time extension for filing the returns for the contribution period April 2020 to September 2020.

India

Updated:15th December, 2020

Supreme Court: Adjust dues against separation benefits

The Honourable Supreme Court of India in a Judgment, M/s Steel Authority of India Ltd. Vs. Raghbendra Singh & Ors., dated 15th December, 2020, has permitted employers to adjust employees’ dues with their retirement benefits including the gratuity payable.

In the said case law, the employee was provided a house as an accommodation benefit by the employer. As the employee did not vacate the said quarters immediately after separation, the expenses needed to be recovered by the employer. The bench headed by justice Sanjay K Kaul, decided that there is no prohibition against recovering such dues – including penal rent and the penalty for overstaying in official accommodation – from the employee’s gratuity payable.

India

Updated:31st December, 2020

Model Standing Orders for the Service, Manufacturing and Mines Sectors

The Ministry of Labour and Employment vide notification no. G.S.R. 814 (E), dated 31st December, 2020, has published Draft Model Standing Orders for the Service Sectors, Manufacturing Sectors and Mines. The Ministry has invited objections and suggestions from industries/persons who are impacted by these changes. They have to be sent within thirty days from the publication of the notification. Section 29 of the Industrial Relations Code - 2020 empowers the Central Government to model standing orders relating to conditions of service and other matters incidental thereto. The standing orders shall be drafted by the employers as per the model standing orders with respect to the First Schedule of the Act.

The objections and suggestions may be addressed to Shri Sanjeev Nanda, Under Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Room No 17, Shram Shakti Bhawan, Rafi Marg, New Delhi-110001 or by e-mail – sanjeev.dom@nic.in.

The Model Standing Order for Service Sectors includes Work From Home Options, subject to conditions of appointment or agreement between employer and workers. It makes AADHAAR mandatory to the joining process.

These Orders will extend to all States and Union Territories in India with industrial establishments employing 300 or more workers who are covered under the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020. The rules are made under the control of Central Government or the State Government engaged in the respective sectors.

India

Updated: December, 2020

Atmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana Subsidy

Atma Nirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana is a scheme introduced by the Government of India to incentivise the creation of more jobs. According to the scheme, the Government will give subsidy to establishments for new hires.

India

Updated: December, 2020

EPF Act

EPF Act provisions are applicable to private security agencies. The Honorable Supreme Court has dismissed civil appeal nos. 4434-4435 of 2010 stating that the provisions of Employees Provident Fund Act are applicable for private security agencies providing personnel to its clients, provided it meets the requirement of the EPF Act.

It also laid down an important principle of law that an assessment under section 7 A and applicability of the Act can be made on the basis of balance sheets, in absence of submission of relevant statutory records by the employer. Hence the liability calculation may be based on the relevant ledgers of the audited financials in the absence of relevant employee records.

This Judgement was issued in a plea filed by Panther Security Service which provides private security guards to its clients on payment basis as per the provisions of Private Security Agencies Regulation Act, 2005.

The above provides clarity that the PF department has the authority to conduct such 7A enquires on security agencies provides they fall under the ambit of the provisions of PF Act.

India

Updated: November, 2020

Impact of Proposed Changes to Labour Codes

Changes have been proposed in the Indian Labour Laws to simplify the compliance process and to facilitate ease of doing business. It combines laws under various labour legislations and consolidates 29 Acts into four integrated codes.

India

Updated: 29th October, 2020

Notification of draft rules under the Industrial Relations Code, 2020

The Union Labour and Employment Ministry, vide notification no. G.S.R. 684(E), dated 29th October, 2020 has published the draft rules. The Ministry has invited objections, suggestions, and comments from the public for 30 days, after which the final gazette will be issued. These rules supersede the Industrial Tribunal (Procedure) Rules, 1949, the Industrial Tribunal (Central Procedure) Rules, 1954, the Industrial Disputes (Central) Rules, 1957 and the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Central Rules, 1946.

India

Updated: 03rd November, 2020

Leave Travel Allowance Scheme

LTA Cash Voucher scheme was launched for central government employees on 12th October, 2020. As per the scheme, the employees can now buy goods and services that are applicable for GST at 12% & above through digital mode and claim it under LTA exemption.

India

Updated: 27th October, 2020

ESIC increases medical bonus from Rs.5000/- to Rs.7500/-

Further to our alert dated 30th July 2020 on Draft notification of ESIC proposed to increase medical bonus, now the Ministry of Labour and Employment has notified the revised amount of Rs.7500/- through gazette dated 27th October 2020.

As per ESIC rule 56(A), monetary benefit in the form of medical bonus is given to the insured pregnant women or wife of an insured person, in case they cannot avail maternity services in ESIC dispensaries. An amount of Rs.5000/-per delivery is provided as confinement expenses, given that confinement occurs at a place where necessary medical facilities under the ESIC are not available. This expense is paid for 2 deliveries only.

This has now been revised to Rs.7500/- per delivery.

India

Updated: 15th October, 2020

EPFO launches WhatsApp Helpline Service to address Grievances

Employees Provident Fund Organization has launched WhatsApp helpline service to address grievances. This allows PF subscribers to interact directly with regional PF offices at a personalized level.

India

Updated: 10th October, 2020

EPFO, Bulk Transfer of Funds

EPFO has launched the functionality for bulk transfer of funds from exempted establishments to RPFC through a single payment. This facility will increase the speed of funds transfer for exempted establishments.

India

Updated: 09th October, 2020

ESIC issues guidelines for COVID-19 safety measures at workplace

The Employees State Insurance Corporation has issued important guidelines to employers and workers to prevent the spread of the Corona virus. The guidelines helps to identify the risk levels at individual workplace settings in the office premises and to determine appropriate control measures. Guidelines for structural and administrative measures and changes in human resource policies are also issued along with the Do’s and Don’ts by employers & workers are highlighted to contain the spread of the Corona virus. The need to formulate contingency plans such as cross training of employees, managing deliverables with higher absenteeism are also stressed to maintain continuity in business activities with keeping the workforce safe.

India

Updated: 1st October, 2020

EPFO launches virtual hearing facility to conduct enquiries

Virtual hearing in quasi-judicial cases by Assessing Officers through Video conferencing by use of secure IT applications.

India

Updated: 5th October, 2020

Employees Deposit Linked Insurance (EDLI) scheme

EPFO has increased the maximum assurance benefit under the EDLI scheme to Rs.7 lakhs.

India

Updated: 29th September, 2020

The Occupational Safety, Health, and Working Conditions Code, 2020

The Government of India, vide notification #37 of 2020, dated 29th September 2020 has issued the Occupational Safety, Health, and Working Conditions Code 2020. The act is introduced to consolidate and amend the laws regulating the occupational safety, health, and working
conditions of persons employed in an establishment.

The Occupational Safety, Health, and Working Conditions Code replaces the following thirteen legislations:
1. Factories Act, 1948
2. Mines Act, 1951
3. Dock Workers (Safety, Health, and Welfare Act, 1986
4. The Building and other Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996
5. The Plantations Labour Act, 1951
6. The Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act,1970
7. The Inter-State Migrant workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979
8. The Working Journalist and other Newspaper Employees (Conditions of Service and Misc. Provision) Act, 1955
9. The Working Journalist (Fixation of rates of wages) Act, 1958
10. The Motor Transport Workers Act, 1961
11. Sales Promotion Employees (Condition of Service) Act, 1976
12. The Beedi and Cigar Workers (Conditions of Employment) Act, 1966
13. The Cine Workers and Cinema Theatre Workers Act, 1981

India

Updated: 29th September, 2020

The Social Security Code, 2020

The Government of India, vide notification #36 of 2020, dated 29th September, 2020, has issued the Social Security Code. The act is introduced
to amend and consolidate the laws relating to social security with the goal to extend social security to all employees and workers either in the organised, unorganised, or any other sectors.

The Social Security Code replaces the following nine legislations:
1. The EPF and M.P. Act, 1952
2. The ESIC Act, 1948
3. The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961
4. The Building and other Construction Workers Cess, Act
5. The Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972
6. The Employees Exchange (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Act, 1959
7. The Cine Workers Welfare Fund Act, 1981
8. The Unorganized Workers’ Social Security Act, 2008
9. The Employees Compensation Act, 1923

India

Updated: 29th September, 2020

The Industrial Relations Code, 2020

The Government of India, vide notification #35 of 2020, dated 29th September, 2020, has issued the Industrial Relations Code, 2020. The act is introduced to consolidate and amend the laws relating to Trade Unions, conditions of employment in industrial establishments or undertaking, investigation, and settlement of industrial disputes.

The code replaces the following three legislations:
1. Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946
2. Industrial Disputes Act, 1947
3. Trade Unions Act, 1926

India

Updated: 23rd September, 2020

Atal Bimit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana

Further to the extension of unemployment benefits under the Atal Bimit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana, the ESI corporation has enabled a new feature in the www.esic.in IP portal to facilitate online submission of unemployment claims directly with the respective ESIC Branch office.

Click here to submit your claims.