Another scam has rocked the State Health Agency as the company responsible for providing manpower to run a health insurance scheme has allegedly gobbled up nearly Rs 3 crore of around 300 employees which was to be deposited in their Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) accounts.
What the rules say
- The Employees’ Provident Funds & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952, applies from the day the employee strength first crosses 19.
- This includes contractual staff and/or casual labour, even if the total strength may thereafter reduce.
- Subsequently, the employer is statutorily bound to remit PF contributions of all employees every month.
In a communication to the government-run State Health Agency (responsible for running the insurance scheme), the EPFO has termed it cheating.
However, there were serious allegations against the company that it was not paying the minimum wages and was even refusing to deposit the provident fund and pension fund of the contractual employees, which is a statutory requirement under the Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952.