Pf claim form not submitted by employer

Do you have acknowledgment/POD of PF forms submitted by you and any written communication confirming that your PF forms have been received?

Have you recorded the telephonic conversation that  another 1 week is required to check with PF office?

Has the company supplied the PF a/c slips of each accounting year to you?

Has the company shown PF deduction in salary slips issued to you….?

Generate a proof that your PF forms are received by the company then write to supply you the acknowledgment issued by PF office {(for you) to the company} that company is supposed to supply to you by effective mode of communication……………..and you may demand to supply it by Redg. Post to you!

The employer is under obligation to attest the PF forms and submit to PF office within 5days of receipt, also to issue PF number, show deduction of PF,ESIC in salary slip, and supply PF a/c slips collected from PF office!

The employer can not decline to attest PF forms and if it does it is offence!

If you have the proof of having supplied the PF forms to the company that company is either declining to attest ot has not submitted to PF office then you can lodge a complaint thru the RPFC in nearest PF office (under proper acknowledgment with seal and diary number) and ask the RPFC to depute the PF official to visit the company and penalize on the spot………and also submit attested PF forms (by say BM of your bank) and RPFC shall do the needful………….

Once you have acknowledgment from RPFC you can pursue thru RTI also……….

If company has defaulted on deposit of PF contributions you can lodge complaint with police thru RPFC and also demand that RPFC should initiate recovery and to penalize the company A proceedings………..initiate 7A proceedings

Hi Kumar,

First of all, thanks a million for your valuable feedback which really helps me a lot as i am dumb in these issues..

Coming back to your reply here are the answers for the questions you had raised.

Do you have acknowledgment/POD of PF forms submitted by you and any written communication confirming that your PF forms have been received?

Ans:Yes i have an email that HR has confirmed that she got the forms

Have you recorded the telephonic conversation that  another 1 week is required to check with PF office?

 Ans:I have the email conversation which i made with the X-HR in that she mentioned the same

Has the company supplied the PF a/c slips of each accounting year to you?

Ans: Yes

Has the company shown PF deduction in salary slips issued to you….?

Ans: Yes

And today i had mailed the HR to provide the acknowledgement copy, and in reply i received an email saying:- "Please wait for one more week we will be getting all the PF forms from the PF consultant and he assured the same"..

Is there any possibility that i have not filled form properly and it is rejected.. Hence i am not getting the status in EPFO website..??

Thanks again Kumar..

Abijin

The EPFO has notifed the employers to do away with consultants!

It does not recognise consultants.

The record as posted by you shows that the company was unaware of the fate of PF forms (with its consultant).

The designated 'authorized signatory' was to communicate if the PF forms were not correctly filled by you immediately upon receipt...........and since consultant is not recognised by EPFO ..........................the delay stands on part of employer.....................and employer can be penalized for both delay and handing over the Pf forms to consultant....

Become member of  Employees/Trade Unions and be properly informed... 

Hi Kumar,

I think i have confused you with the HR reply mail.. Hence I am pasting the exact email which HR had sent.. I hope it is clear to you for your feedback..

Hi Abijin,

We will be getting update next week on all our forms that were submitted, PF consultant has assured to give us details.

Please wait for one more week; I will get back to you.

Regards,

HR Team

There is no confusion at our end.

The exact email of HR indicates that :

---PF forms were submitted to EPFO although thru consultant, hence acknowledgment issued by PF office should be supplied to you................Your own feedback is that PF forms were not submitted.

---PF forms were submitted to EPFO thru consultant, and consultants were a kind of banned by EPFO.

The PF forms are to be attested by employer or HR personnel designated as 'Authorized Signatory' and submitted to concerned PF office within 5 days........

Since you have the record merits are on your side.

If PF forms submitted by you bears any overwriting/addition to claim it is incorrect you can agitate........

Transact in writing and obtain written response. Avoid phone calls /record and submit minutes........

Hi Kumar.

Thank you very much for the valuable feedback. So in this case I will wait for their response and get back to you as soon as i get it..

Since the amount is 1L+ and had lot of commitments based on that, i am stopped in everything..

Thanks again Kumar..

Abijin

If you have noticed from PF withdrawal forms then if you were not unemployed after separation for 2 months you can not withdraw....although majority of the employees prefer to withdraw...... 

It is always advisable to transfer the PF and keep the a/c regular.......................as there are unmatched benefits.......

The PRO/APFC in nearest PF office can appraise you.......

You can also log onto 

www.epfindia.gov.in

What normally happens is that the Pvt Ltd Cos have PF agents/ consultants through whom they submit the forms. So the procedure is like this:

1. You submit the form to the HR department
2. Forms signed by the HR department and relevant Company authorized signatories - time take is 3-6 weeks
3. Forms given to consultant and scrutiny of forms by consultant - 2-4 weeks
4. If all forms are in order, submission of forms to the PF office, else forms returned to Company for correction
5. Scrutiny of Forms by PF office and updating of online status - 2-4 weeks
6. Processing of the claim and refund of money into the A/c of employee - 2-4 weeks

Most likely your Forms are stuck somewhere between stage 3 and stage 5. I have personally received PF refunds through the above process, and got my refund even though the online status one day before was 'No such claim received'. Apparently the online status was updated by EPF only when the form was processed for refund.

Non submission of claim form : employer is liable for prosecutuion.

Please submit written complaint with RPFC.

Hi Experts,

Today I got an update from my previous employer on PF status which i am pasting below:

Hi Abijin,

Our PF consultant personally visited RPFC office to check on your form, but no records have been found

Request you to re-submit the form to us, we will forward it to them again.

The email posted by you is an admission of:

-----Non Submission of PF forms by employer to PF office

-----Non Submission of acknowledgment issued by PF office (if forms were submitted at all) to you.....................and also a statement that the PF office personnel collected PF Forms without issuing mandatory acknowledgment ( as per statement of consultant employed by employer).......and now the consultant has to reveal the names to HR and HR to you......................simply said HR or Employer personally is responsible.....to state in writing the name/detail of firm of agency of consultant......

-----appointment of consultant ..........................a practice banned by EPFO

----Loss of PF forms by PF office employee (as per claim of HR and consultant) 

Whatever it is you have meritorious opportunity to proceed against the employer,consultant........

You can lodge complaint thru RPFC in nearest PF office (under proper acknowledgment) to depute PF official and reveal the name of PF official that collected PF forms without issuing acknowledgment, details of the consultant, and penalize the company for not attesting PF forms/submitting to PF office within 5 days/not supplying the acknowledgment to you/not supplying the payment since HR has claimed the submission of PF forms.....  

Later you can pursue thru RTI also......

Your lawyer may opine that you can file civil suit with damages, approach DCDRF, etc................

Hi Kumar,

This is a really useful information to me as well as the people who are suffering just as me..

Can i get any compensation because of this error made by employer; and if yes how much will be the claim as my PF amount which is stuck now is around 1.15Lakh..

I am asking this because, as a middle class person, whatever commitments i have made depending on this amount has turned till my neck..

Thanks a million Kumar..

Regards,

Abjiin

You have merits.Your lawyer can advise you further.

Dear Sir,

Steps to take:

1. First Step - resubmit the forms. In any case you will have to resubmit the forms since you will not get your money without it. Ask your employer to follow the forms personally and send you the submission receipts immediately. Usually the PF office will credit the money into your account within 15 days of receipt of the complete forms. Please ensure you have provided a signed and cancelled cheque from your personal individual savings account, along with the claim forms. The cheque should have your name typed on it and it should not be a joint account.
2. Second Step - all the above advocates have given correct advice, and your previous employer is obviously at fault. So now you can try to take legal action against them. Possible courses of action include (i) Sending a Legal Notice, (ii) Filing a complaint in the Regional PF office, and (iii) Filing a Civil Suit for compensation

However, the company has several defenses:

1. It is the responsibility of the employee to submit the verified forms with the PF office and we were doing it for our ex-employees only as a measure of goodwill - this argument has some merit as technically the company needs to only verify your withdrawal forms and return them to you for onward submission to the PF office, which they can ask you to do personally.
2. We submitted the forms, but the PF office lost them - this is a common occurrence and forms are frequently lost by the PF office - however, in this case, they will need to provide you with at least the proof of submission
3. The forms were lost - we are 'sorry'. The classical Indian excuse for all mistakes.

Please do not delay Step 1, and then decide on Step 2 after consulting a local lawyer, and weighing the personal pros and cons of legal action.