News
Labour Ministry recovers Rs 9 billion from EPF defaulters
The Ministry of Labour, last year, recovered over Rs. 9 billion from companies that had not been contributing to the Employees’ Provident Fund.
According to the 2020 Annual Performance Report of the Ministry, Rs 5,065 million was recovered by issuing 12,232 first notices and Rs. 3,941 million was recovered by issuing 9,253 red notices.
The Ministry states that 2.91 million employees have active EPF accounts with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, while 167,352 new accounts were added during the year.
In 2020, 1,453 institutions registered with the EPF, which brought the total number of EPF contributors to 94,171. The value of the fund as at 31.12.2020 was Rs. 2,540,438 million.
The Ministry said 738 factories had also been registered with it in 2020, bringing the total to 31, 833.
During the year 2,130 factories were inspected to identify potential risks to employees. However, 71 fatal accidents and 1,116 non-fatal accidents were reported to the Department in 2020.
The Ministry said it had inspected 132 institutions following complaints that they were using child labour, and legal action had been taken against six institutions. (RK)