499 employers paid $3.25M during penalty waiver period - FNPF

Fiji National Provident Fund says a total of 499 employers used the penalty waiver period from September to December 2018 to clear $3.25 million in contribution debt to FNPF.

CEO Jaoji Koroi says FNPF had activated the penalty waiver to enable employers to pay their outstanding debt, given that the non‑payment of contributions affects members’ accounts.

FNPF CEO Jaoji Koroi

Koroi says during the penalty waiver period, 499 out of 1,594 employers either fully paid or partially paid their debts. The

waiver expired on 31 December 2018. The remaining 1,095 employers will be subject to a penalty of $100 per employee per month as stipulated under Section 40 of the FNPF Act 2011.

He says FNPF was able to recover part of the debt through thorough investigation and compliance checks, which also resulted in some organizations clearing their dues from past years.

FNPF also has authority to impose travel restrictions on defaulting employers and it can recover money from other third parties as well and FNPF will also publish names of Employers who are regularly in breach of the Act.

Koroi says to date, $9.05m in member contributions is owed to FNPF, including $4.75m from previous financial years and $4.3m for the period July 2018 to December 2018.

Meanwhile, FNPF is also aware of employers who are not registered with FNPF and have not paid their employees monthly contributions.

Koroi says these employers are also breaching the FNPF Act and will be penalized accordingly.

He says employees who work for these non‑FNPF registered employers, are urged to report them to FNPF as this will

lead to recovery of contributions owed.