ESIC & EPF RELIEF SCHEME GUIDELINES 2020 DUE TO COVID19

ESIC & EPF Relief Scheme guidelines 2020 due to COVID19

Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana: A Scheme to implement the PMGKY package for credit of employee’s & employer’s share of EPF & EPS contributions (24% of wages) for three months by Govt. of India.

·         Overview:

The Govt. of India on 26.03.2020 relief package under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) and the Central Govt. proposes to pay 24 % of the monthly wages into EPF accounts for next three months of Wage-earners below Rupees 15,000/- per month, who are employed in establishments having up to one hundred employees, with 90% or more of such employees earning monthly wages less than Rs.15000/-

·      Validity of Scheme : The Scheme will be in operation for the wage months- March, 2020, April, 2020 and May, 2020.

·         Scheme Objectives

ü  To support establishments employing up to one 100 employees,

ü  the entire employees EPF contributions (12% of wages) and employers’ EPF & EPS contribution (12% of wages), totaling 24% of the monthly wages for the next three months shall be directly paid by the Central Govt. in the EPF accounts (UAN) of employees, who :

§  are already members of EPF Scheme, 1952,

§  drawing wages less than Rs.15000/- per month and

§  employed in establishments, already covered under the EPF & MP Act, 1952,

§  employing up to 100 employees, with 90% or more of such employees earning less than Rs.15,000/- monthly wages.

·         Definitions for the Scheme

The definitions mentioned in various sub-sections of section 2 of The Employees’ Provident Fund & Misc. Provisions Act, 1952 and Para 2 of the Employees’ Provident Funds Scheme, 1952, would be applicable mutatis mutandis to this scheme as well.

·         Eligibility for Scheme benefits:

For Establishments:	For Employees:
The establishment or factory should already be covered and registered under the Employees’ Provident Funds & Misc. Provisions Act, 1952.	Employee should be employed in any eligible establishment earning monthly wages of less than Rs.15000/-. The UAN of the employee should be seeded with his/her Aadhaar.
The total number of employees employed in the establishment should be up to 100 (one hundred), with 90% or more of such employees should be drawing monthly wages less than Rs.15000/-.	Employee should be a member of EPF Scheme, 1952 & Employees’ Pension Scheme, 1995 whose contributions are received for any period during last six months (September 2019 to February 2020) in the ECR filed by any eligible establishment against his/her UAN. Such contributions in ECR should have been received on monthly wage of less than Rs.15000/-
	It is clarified that if any employee is already a registered beneficiary and his/her employer is availing benefits of payment of employer’s share by Central Govt. under PMRPY/PMPRPY 2016, no such benefit in r/o such employee shall be available under this Scheme of PMGKY.

·         Modalities for implementation of the Scheme

·         EPFO shall develop a software for implementing this Scheme and also develop a procedure which is transparent and accountable at their own end.

·         EPFO shall credit the funds in the Aadhaar seeded accounts of members of EPF in electronic manner.

·         Monitoring Mechanism

ü  EPFO shall put in place a robust mechanism to monitor the implementation of the Scheme on a daily basis.

ü  EPFO shall provide weekly reports to the Ministry of Labour & Employment (Directorate General of Employment), Govt. of India for effective monitoring of the Scheme.

·         Third Party evaluation

ü  EPFO shall undertake Third Party Evaluation of the Scheme within a period of three months from the closure of the Scheme and send a report to the Ministry of labour & Employment, Govt. of India.

ü  The expenditure incurred towards evaluation of the Scheme shall be borne by the EPFO out of its own resources.

Link / Source:  https://www.epfindia.gov.in/site_docs/PDFs/Circulars/Y2020-2021/SchemeCOVID_24_10042020.pdf

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