Contractor Not Helping In PF Withdrawal Of Labours Recruited From Him

Dear Seniors, one of our contractor is not helping us in PF withdrawal of labours recruited from him. He has stopped responding to our calls. How can we get labours PF withdrawal without their intervention..
Please suggest.
regards,
Saunee

Yes
it is a serious foolish activity committed by ur company contractor.
Solutions two..
1. You can complaint against the contractor to the company head. Usually if any contractor fails or done any mistake company will be responsible .….as....principal employer as per contract labour act 1970. He can sign and cooperate to release the pf amou
nts. Violation leads to labour court
2in recent amended p.f laws..of modi govt. No signatures of employer are necessary to draw workers p.f amounts.
Pls check p.f website feedback all ur doubts.. All the best..

Dear Saunee,
This is a common problem by small contractor. You have not mentioned whether the contract has been over, if so whether you have released all the payment.
If any amount is due for payment, pls make pressure to first resolve the matter. Thought legally you can't stop any contractor's payment on such issues, unless it is not provided in the agreement.
However, as per latest PF Office notification, if the contractor has separate PF Code than the PE is not liable to involve in PF related issue/s. But as a labour welfare PE on ethical ground we always go in depth to resolve all issues related to contract labour.
Pls clarify the below points:-
Period of Contract
Whether contract over
Full pymt made to the contractor
Whether earlier you asked the contractor to submit PF challans and ECR
Whether you have any detail relared to UAN, PF No of contractual labour.
On basis of above info, we can advice how to overcome the situation.

Thank you Mr. PAN Singh,

we had to terminate their contract when they did not provide enough support resolving this issue. we have sent several letters, emails asking them to fulfill their responsibilities. as the issue started 5-6 months ago, we have kept their payment on hold. but it seems that they don't bother on this now as their MD also have switched off his phone. when we sent our people to their locations, we found out that they have closed the offices and did not share new location details. even all the speed post sent to them have come back to us undelivered.

I have spoken to PF office in Kanpur for same, and they have asked us to send the withdrawal forms along with an application as why we have terminated the contract.

we will be doing so. as per them they first will call the contractor and will ask him to attest the forms.

Hope labours get their money soon.

can you please help sharing the notification for PF where it is mentioned that if contractor has separate code, PE will not be responsible for PF. I need to know that in entire.

Thank you so much.

Saunee

Dear Saunee,

If the contract has not terminated yet, pls don't release the pymt. Hope the contractor is making labour pymts.

You can deduct the PF contribution amounts form their bill alongwith some administractive charges. The PF of contractual labour can be deposited into PE PF Code.

If the speed post returned undelivered, I will advice to send your queries, letters, reminders thru email/s ids of respective person.

You can take some consultant's advice to close the matter asap. Prolonging it will create more trouble/s for you. Bcoz the matter can lead more legal implication as well (o/s payment to contractor, other statutory payment to labour like EL, gratuity etc.)

However, in connection to the PF notification, I was little bit confused. There was no notification issued by the EPFO, but there were some judgements by the honourable courts.

PFA one case law shared by Mr. H L Kumar (I down it from Labour Law Reporter | A Practical Journal on Labour Laws & HR Management).

Hope this will fulfill your requirement/s.

Thank You Mr. PAN Singh for your help! we have not paid to contractor. wherever wages were concerned we have paid labours directly and debited the contractor for same. For PF withdrawal, we have forced them to get the withdrawal done for most of the employees. for remaining few we are trying to get it done directly.
regards,
Saunee

Dear Saunee,

Thnx for your appreciation. Hope the related case law will help you to strong your case in front of your management. However, I have tried to upload Word Format file which I was unable to upload, hence I shared the link.

Pls note paying wages directly to labour and Dr. the amount to the contractor for a long period is not advisable. If you are facing probs, pls change the contractor immediately (giving proper notice period as per agreement and mutual understanding). Your company must be registered with PF-ESI, so you are supposed to provide those benefits to contractual labour as well.

If the contractor having Labour Licence for your contract, you can intimate the same to Labour Office as well.

Presently you are just disbursing Wages, but not depositing PF-ESI for the labour. If the labours are working in risk involved areas and something happens to any labour, than the whole liability will be yours.

To avoid such situation, pls engage new contractor who is registered with PF-ESI and other compliances.

I need Tamil Nadu Engineering and Fabrication industries minimum wages for the period 2016. This is an urgent requirement.

Dear Mr Devan
PFA copies of TN Govt's Gazette notification on MW for General Engg & Fabrication and Circular from TN Labour Commissioner on DA payable from April '16 for your requirement. In case if you need more details / documents, pl free to contact us. Regards.
N Nataraajhan, Sakthi Management Services (Hp:+ 91 94835 17402;e-mail:naraj@sakthimanagement.com)

Hi Saunee

First, understand an important technical point.

The Principal Employer or even the contractor is not responsible or required to get the PF amounts withdrawn or released to the worker. That responsibility remains of the PF authorities to release the amount, provided the workers fill in the forms and submit the required supporting documents. The responsibility of the employer is limited to the compliance with the PF scheme, which is to deduct the relevant amount from the wages / salary and deposit it along with the employers contribution to the PF authorities.

You need to ensure that the contractor has paid the PF and filed the returns on time. (and ofcourse, filed them correctly). If you have not paid him his contract amount for some months, it is unlikely he would have done that or even paid wages for the remaining period. That would be a more important issue.

As regards the release of the PF, to prevent industrial relation issues, you can hire a consultant to help the workers fill in the forms and submit them to the authorities. Go on the PF portal and you will see the procedure for the same given very clearly. The signature of the contractor is no longer critical to this matter.