NEW DELHI: Between March 2019 and September 2020, SpiceJet has not deposited money worth `32 crore in provident fund (PF) of employees. Even as SpiceJet Chief Ajay Singh last year in an interview said all pay-related issues were resolved, the struggle continues for a section of former and existing employees whose PF has not been deposited for about a year or more now, even after deduction in this head from their salary every month.
They say they have raised complaints with HR but those have gone unacknowledged or met with automated replies. Independent auditors in the embattled airline’s annual report mentioned that undisputed statutory dues including PF, employees’ state insurance, income tax, sales tax, service tax, duty of customs, duty of excise, value-added tax, goods and services tax, cess and other material statutory dues, as applicable, have not been regularly deposited to the appropriate authorities and there have been significant delays in a large number of cases.
TNIE has seen the payslips and EPF (Employee Provident Fund) passbook of several former staff, some of whose PF has not been deposited since 2021, while it has been deducted every month till they resigned. Ankush Singh Dadwal, a former SpiceJet employee tells TNIE much former staff including himself have written to HR but they have not been given any clarification or assurance in this regard. Dadwal, who resigned from the company early this year, has not even received salary payment for March, which was his last functioning month. His PF has not been deposited since July 2021.
Some former employees have also written to the Delhi West EPF office in a bid to get their PF money. Many have taken to Twitter as well. A former employee in a tweet said she has neither got her final settlement nor experience letter. “I have been harassed mentally and it’s affecting my career as well,” she said.
To TNIE’s query on the undeposited PF, without giving a timeline, a SpiceJet spokesperson said, “There have been certain deferral on discharging of payments but no default. The Company has been actively depositing and clearing dues and ensuring that accounts are up to date.”
In India and globally, the aviation industry has been struggling since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and has suffered financial devastation, reporting massive losses.
SpiceJet employees have gone on strikes related to salary issues a few times already. According to sources, a section of these employees is now planning to gather at the EPF office.