A good web to get into
E-help for members of the Employees' Provident Fund
by Aditha Dissanayake
Ever wondered what happens to the money deducted as Employees'
Provident Fund at the end of your salary slip every month? How do you
claim it back? What happens if you change jobs? If you get married? If
you migrate? Log on to www.epf.lk to find out all the answers to your
questions in next to no time.
Jointly developed by the Employees' Provident Fund of the Central
Bank of Sri Lanka and the Department of Labour, powered by Infocraft
Limited, the website, officially launched by Athauda Senevirathne, the
minister of Labour Relations and Foreign Employment, marks an important
milestone in the Employees Provident Fund fulfilling a long felt need of
employers, members and the general public.
FAQ
As well as providing facilities for the members and the employers to
download all the necessary Forms relating to EPF, the website also
consists of a Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) section which answers most
of the queries related to EPF.
For specific questions that are not answered in the FAQs, facilities
are provided to submit queries to the EPF, whereby the Fund staff will
get back with the information requested.
Talking about the re-engineering projects implemented by the
Employees' Provident Fund, which is the Largest Retirement Benefit
scheme in Sri Lanka, N. J. Perera, Superintendent, Employees' Provident
Fund, in his message says "I hope the access to information through the
new EPF website will be a fulfillment of a long felt need of both
employers and employees.
This will facilitate the members to obtain all necessary forms for
EPF purposes without visiting EPF offices. The EPF also hopes to provide
many more services for members and employers, through the website in the
future."
Thanking the staff of the Employees' Provident Fund and Infocraft
Ltd, for the contributions they made to making the website a reality W.
J. L. U. Wijeweera, Labour Commissioner (EPF) says "The Employees'
Provident Fund, which was established in 1958, as a retirement benefit
scheme for the employees of the corporate and private sector is the
largest fund with an asset base of over Rs. 400b.The fund maintains 10m
member accounts with 2m currently contributing members."
Free of complications
Explaining the functions of the site, he further states "This website
contains comprehensive information for employers and members to carry
out their functionalities conveniently. Facilities for the members to
obtain all necessary forms for EPF purposes are provided by the site
reducing the hassle for its stakeholders of visiting EPF offices.
I believe that the information provided by the website will help the
members to understand on how to maintain their accounts in the proper
manner so that there will not be any complications at refunding of
funds."
According to Mangala Wickramasinghe, of Infocraft, a subsidiary of
Hayleys Limited, and the designers of the site, members and employers
can now download all the necessary Forms relating to EPF, in all the
three languages, Sinhala, Tamil and English. "We have made the website
as user friendly as possible and everyone can easily find information
regarding how to become a member, how to send contributions, for EPF,
when can EPF be refunded, how can a housing loan guarantee be obtained,
how can contribution rates be increased etc. by logging on to the
website."
Read on to find out everything you need to know about your rights as
an employee, from the first day of work to the last. Make sure that your
employer adheres to his responsibility of enrolling you in the EPF,
because the nature of your job is irrelevant. The law of the land
demands that all employees should be enrolled whether they are
permanent, temporary, apprentice, casual or shift workers.
Use the website today to find out how you can turn your EPF into a
genie who would fulfill your dreams in the latter part of your life
because your EPF balance keeps growing as you mature at your working
environment. You are assured your investment in time and money is safe,
sound and growing annually in the hands of the EPF, giving you peace of
mind that you will be stable and able to provide for your family and
loved ones when it's time for you to retire.
Here's a web you should not mind getting caught in.
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