Here is a list of possible pitfalls while doing background check of employees for dual employment by scanning PF service history records.
1. Overlapping of short tenure doesn’t imply dual employment
Service history overlap of short tenure (say one month or less) is common when we do employment service history check with reference to UAN of an employee. This may happen because of various administrative reasons like previous employer not updating the Date of Exit, or Previous Employer continuing to show an exited employee under PF till the end of notice period for which he is compensating in the form of notice period payout and PF deposited thereof.
2. Employee may have multiple UAN
An employee may have more than one UAN as aadhar linking was not compulsory before 2017. In our service history check, we came across cases where employee having dual UAN could not be tracked for service history overlap. We need to watch out for such cases and such non-aadhar linked UAN have to be singled out for further verification.
3. Previous Company undergoing name change due to merger / takeover / acquisition or any other reason
The previous employer name as submitted by employee in joining form may vary as compared to the name reflecting in PF service history check as the company may have different name registered with PF or may have undergone name change due to various reasons after the employee left the organisation. Hence, this may result in mismatch in previous employment name but the same is explainable.
4. Time lag for update of EPFO records
As the PF deposit and return filing process is done within 15 days after the end of the month, the employee data for last month gets updated with some time lag. Unless the other employer has filed the PF return and made the PF payment, the employee’s data may not show up. Hence, it is advised to follow some time lag for dual employment verification for new joinees. Payrule suggests a minimum time lag of 2-3 months from date of joining to check service history in PF records, to achieve best results.
5. Regular Checks required to track ongoing dual employment
One time check of service history may result in clean chit for an employee, however, it is suggested that service history check is done at regular intervals even for already scanned employee as the employee may indulge in dual employment after joining your company
You may reach out to sumit@payrule.in or +91 9316633890 for getting dual employment check done anonymously for your organization in the most confidential manner.