Souce: FIJI NATIONAL PROVIDENT FUND
The Fiji National Provident Fund Board has agreed to waive all surcharges against employers who have not paid their workers FNPF contributions.
The waiver will be effective from 22 April until 31 May, 2013.
Under the terms of this one-time offer, defaulting Employers will need to clear all contributions owed to their workers.
Employers will not be required to pay for penalties for the late payment of contributions, which is known as surcharge.
Employers take advantage
And the FNPF chief executive officer Mr Aisake Taito has urged all Employers who fall under this category to take advantage of this unique opportunity.
“To protect our members, the FNPF Board is required under the law to penalise those Employers who fail to pay their workers’ contributions on time,” he said.
Charges
“This penalty is charged at 2 per cent of the total owed as stipulated in the old FNPF Act. So any employer, who fails to pay FNPF these contributions every month, as prescribed, is surcharged.”
Mr Taito said one of the major reasons that the Board has approved this waiver is to ensure that workers receive what is owed to them, whilst ensuring that employers comply with their statutory obligation.
“We are here to protect our members’ interests,” he said.
“Our members’ balances increase based on the contributions paid in by their employers. And when this is not forthcoming members suffer because their balances would not increase and not earn an annual interest.
At the end of the waiver, those employers who fail to clear contributions owed will be penalised under the provisions of the FNPF Decree 2011.
Additionally, Mr Taito has encouraged those Employers who have cases pending in court relating to unpaid contributions to also take advantage of this offer and pay off any outstanding payments.
He has encouraged Directors of Companies that are no longer in operation to come forward and settle all outstanding payments during this period.
Failure will result in litigation
“Failure to do this will result in civil litigation against the directors for the recovery of the total amount outstanding,”he said.
Mr Taito stressed the importance of clearing any outstanding payments as hefty accumulated penalties can seriouslyaffect companies & employers that do not comply.
“Under Section 40 of the FNPF Decree 2011, defaulting employers will be surcharged $100 per month per employee.
This is in addition to contributions owed.
“As such a company with 100 employees with unpaid contributions will be surcharged $10,000 per month until such a time the contributions are cleared,” he said.
Payment of these contributions can only be made in cash or bank cheque. Section 40 of the FNPF Decree will come into force on 1 June, 2013.