Employers warned to remit employee funds

EMPLOYERS that do not remit their employees member contributions can risk being referred for legal action, according to a superannuation fund.
During a media conference yesterday, National Superannuation Fund (Nasfund) called for all employers to remit their employees’ 2019 member contributions.
Contribution and member maintenance manager Steven Gerega said the fund had a default process in-place which non-compliant companies would go through a litigation process.
“If a company is in default for three months or above than we refer them to authorities and a litigation process takes place, which will be handled by our legal division,” he said.
“It goes to an extant where we can serve them a summons if they are not compliant.”
Gerega said companies were expected to remit their employees contribution on day 15 of each month in a year so returns were paid into members’ accounts.
“We are calling on employers to pay and remit their contributions to benefit our members to receive interest for 2019,” he said.
“The employers who have not remitted their members contribution for the 2019 financial year will cause employees or members to miss out on receiving the maximum allocation of the annual interest that is usually accredited into members accounts in March each year.
“Contributing employers must comply and adhere to their duty to do the right thing for the members to fully benefit from the annual crediting rate.
“Voluntary contributing members will earn a greater allocation of interests because their savings balance will be higher.”
Grega also encouraged contributing Nasfund employers and members to work together with the fund.
“As partners in superannuation, we need to work together to address any issues that they are having,” he said.
We are there to help them out and if they have challenges, they have to come to us and we will help them as best as we can.”
Business development acting manager Melanie Lavaki said: “We will be having annual employer conferences.
“Starting from around late March up until mid-April, the conference will be starting in Port Moresby and then nationwide to address concerns and keep our employers informed on all activities for the year.”
According to the fund, it currently has 500,000 members with around 190,000 active members.