4:45 AM
Amresh
You can withdraw your EPF without Employer Signature
Do you know how to withdraw your EPF without Employer Signature ? Do you
think if its possible at all ? Is your previous employer not signing your EPF
Withdrawal documents? Have you left your company long back and now you can not
take your past employer signatures ? Or is your EPF company stuck because your
employer is not supporting you or helping you in withdrawal procedure ? Or it
might happen that your employer relations with you mess up for some reason
and now they are not ready to cooperate in the EPF withdrawal procedure and
threatening you? Here are 2 real life examples of these kind of situation
Case 1 : Priyanka was also stuck with a company which was
shut down and her PF
was stuck
The last company i was working with has been shut down. Now I need to
withdraw my EPF, however I am not getting any help from the company. I
have tried to contact the GM – HR and the CA but no response. As the sum
is huge, I am worried if I will be able to withdraw the amount without
company’s approval or authorized signature. The full and final settlement
has been closed and relieving letter has been issued by the
company. Please advise how should i go about in this case.
Case 2 : Ramz was also facing similar issue but here employer was not supporting the employee for EPF withdrawal
One of my friend was in a similar situation few months back. I have pay slip
but no relieving letter. When contacted with the finance dept, I was told that
I cannot get the epf amount as I have not got the relieving letter. The amount
will not be released by them even though an epf amount is mentioned in pay
slip. He was asked to pay the amount for serving period of two months and
then get relieving certificate and later only will they release the funds for
epf account.
Now the question. Can one withdraw his EPF without the support of his past
employer signatures or support ? Yes ! - There is a solution! .
Today we will discuss, how you can withdraw
your Employee Provident Fund money without your past employer’s help. A lot
of people feel that it’s not possible without employer involvement, but it’s
not true! Let me start by sharing a bit about this.
Employer can not control EPF money
Each month employer takes the EPF part, out of your salary and along with
their contribution, deposit it into your EPF account with the EPFO
organisation. Once they deposit it with EPF office, then it’s just your money
and no one else’s. Your employer can not control it. However note, that your
employer’s signatures are required on the EPF withdrawal form, to certify that
you are not employed with them anymore and now you can withdraw the EPF.
A lot of people leave their jobs without serving the notice period or
because of some other issue and employers do not help them to claim their
Provident Fund money. Here is one instance on our Jagoinvestor Forum
I worked in a company in 2009 for few months. I had some issues with them
and resigned from that company. I did not get any relieving order. All I have
is my salary slip which has PF account no. Is it possible to get back the
PF amount without the permission/notice to the previous employer which I worked
?
3 steps to withdraw your EPF without Employer Signature
Here are 3 steps you need to do to successfully withdraw your EPF without
previous employer signatures.
Step 1
Step 2
Get it attested by any one of the following
- Manager of a bank (PSU preferred)
- By any gazetted officer.
- Magistrate / Post / Sub Post Master / Notary
Step 3
Write down a letter addressing the regional PF commissioner, stating the
reason why you have to get it attested and how you are facing issues with your
employer. In case you have any proof of unsupportive behaviour from your
employer, better attach it. (This step is optional, and not mandatory)
Step 4
If you are unemployed, you will have to make an affidavit that proves that
you are unemployed. Download this Affidavit Sample and get it printed on a
Rs. 100 stamp paper with a notary or any gazetted officer signature on it (This
Affidavit is part of our Jagoinvestor
Wealth Club) . This is required because you need to be unemployed if you
want to withdraw your EPF . If you are employed, you can transfer your EPF to
your new employer.
Step 5
Send these forms to your regional EPF office and wait for next few
months for some kind of action.
Step 6
Once your application is processed, the EPF withdrawal request will be
honoured and you will be paid. If you still don’t see any action or response,
then its time to File an RTI application to EPF Department for finding
out the exact Status.
Legal Action against your past employer
Note that Employee provident fund money is totally yours and no
matter what the situation, your past employer should be helping you in
withdrawing it. It can be some issue your employer or you might have.., your
employer can not say that they will not give signatures and create issues in
your EPF Withdrawal.
If that’s the case, it might be time to teach them a lesson.
If you are 100% sure that you are correct and it’s a case of harassment,
just collect all the documents which proves the harassment and then inform your
regional Provided Fund officer about this. He will carry out an enquiry,
contact the employer and if he finds them guilty, there can be legal action
against the company and might even amount to imprisonment. It’s the Employer’s
duty to keep records as per the law and also maintain the terms and conditions,
failing which employer can get a notice under a section 7A, which lays
the guidelines of strict actions against the employer. I got this from one of the RTI related websites
Normally, the EPFO which maintained your EPF account should have settled the
claim based on the signature of the Bank Manager since you find it difficult to
get the form attested by your previous employer. They should not have sent it
back to you telling to get the signature of the previous employer. The fact
appears to be that the employer is not willing to sign the form for some reason
or the other. (I presume the establishment is not closed but is still working).
It is the duty of the employer to sign the settlement form. If he fails to do
so the Regional Provident Fund Commissioner (RPFC) concerned can take action
against him. You can make a complaint to the RPFC pointing this out and urging
him to either settle the claim as it is or to get the claim signed by the
employer and in case the employer declines to sign to take appropriate action
against him instead of harassing you by not settling the claim.
Please send this complaint by registered post and keep copy. After about a
month if no action is taken file an application under RTI and ask what action
has been taken on your complaint,people responsible for not taking action etc.
Your claim will automatically be settled.
Conclusion
It’s possible to withdraw your EPF money without the help of your past
employer. You just need to know the right steps and should also have the energy
and motivation to follow up on the matter. Let us know what did you learn out
of this article. Do you think this is something useful for you? From this
article, did you understand properly how you can withdraw your EPF
without Employer Signature ?
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