Labourers employed in a textile-associated industry in Vadipatti have accused the establishment of failing to remit their Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) contributions for over six years and submitted a petition with the Commissioner of EPFO recently.M. Sethuraman, a petitioner, has demanded an immediate statutory inquiry and criminal proceedings initiated against the company’s management. The management systematically deducted EPF contributions from his monthly salary However, a recent check of his Universal Account Number (UAN) account revealed that the deductions were never deposited with the EPFO between 2018 and August 2024, he said.“Despite raising multiple verbal complaints with the company management, no corrective action was taken,” Mr. Sethuraman added.This prompted Mr. Sethuraman to submit an initial written complaint to the EPFO on January 5, 2025. Following a lack of final resolution, the worker has filed a fresh petition seeking strict enforcement of the law.Non-remittance of deducted statutory contributions constituted a severe criminal breach of trust and a direct violation of the Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952. The EPFO must invoke several stringent provisions of the Act, including Section 7A and Section 13, to conduct immediate inspection of the company’s wage registers, attendance records, and account books to compute the unpaid dues, he added.He has also called for invocation of Sections 7Q and 14B to levy mandatory interest and heavily penalise the defaulting company with damages. Further, powers under Sections 8B to 8G must be used to initiate coercive recovery actions, including attachment of company assets, freezing of bank accounts, and recovery of outstanding dues as arrears of land revenue. “We also demand criminal prosecution against the company’s directors and managers under Sections 14, 14A, and 14(1A),” he said.Withholding hard-earned provident fund money strips vulnerable labourers of their foundational social security rights. Not remitting the EPF amount deducted from employees’ salaries for several years is a serious legal violation, he further said.Several of the workers who submitted the petition to the Commissioner, have requested that the EPFO urgently conclude its investigation, recover the outstanding amounts with interest, credit them back to the affected workers’ accounts, and provide written confirmation of the actions taken against the establishment. Published - July 08, 2026 08:19 pm IST