S$378m in CPF arrears recovered from employers

The Central Provident Fund Board has recovered about S$387.2 million in arrears mostly from errant employers, which would benefit more than 288,000 employees.

The board said on Tuesday that the sum recovered were mainly from underpayment, non-payment and late payment of CPF contributions by employers, of which S$14 million were due to underpayment or non-payment.

Such cases involved 1,995 employers in industries such as security, cleaning and food and beverage.

The remaining $364.2 million was due to late monthly contributions from about 4,300 employers.

The effort in recovering arrears follows the launch of the WorkRight campaign three years ago by CPF to raise awareness of workers’ CPF rights.

“There was a close to 50 per cent reduction in the number of non-compliant employers who did not pay or underpaid their employees’ CPF contributions from cases closed in 2014,” said Mr Ng Hock Keong, CPFB Group Director of Employer Collections and Enforcement. “Both employers and employees must recognise the importance of having CPF contributions as it helps employees meet their retirement, housing and healthcare needs.”

One of the largest sums of CPF arrears was S$770,000 recovered in 2014 was from a beauty services company, which had underpaid CPF contributions on its employees’ commission and deducted the employer’s share of CPF contributions on basic salary.

There were 46 convictions for non-payment and underpayment of CPF, and 223 convictions for late payment last year. All convicted employers were fined and ordered to pay the CPF arrears by the State Court.

The penalties for non-compliance with the CPF Act were raised in January 2014.

First-time offenders may be fined up to S$5,000 and/or imprisoned for up to six months. Subsequent offenders may face fines of up to S$10,000 and/or imprisonment of up to 12 months.

Adapted from media reports.