New Delhi: The labour and employment ministry is firming up an inspection scheme to identify establishments that are eligible for coverage under the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) but devise ways to remain outside the ambit of the social security coverage to avoid compliance and financial burden, depriving thousands of workers of social security benefits.
Currently, establishments with 20 or more employees need to be mandatorily registered with the EPFO for provident fund, pension and insurance benefits.
Most establishments keep their declared headcount below 20 to avoid mandatory enrolment under the EPFO.
Besides, while workers with wages up to ₹15,000 per month are mandatorily covered under the EPFO schemes, many organisations do not offer coverage to those earning in excess of this limit.
The plan is to use data from GST, income tax and other government departments for identifying organisations that should be covered under the EPFO.