Edtech Byju's fails to pay employees' provident fund for months

Ed-tech start Byju's has not paid the provident fund money for most of its employees in FY24, reported The Hindu BusinessLine.

Former employees of the ed-tech firm have shared screenshots of their EPF account passbook and salary slips which indicates that the company has failed to deposit the amount.

EPFO data also shows that Byju's parent company Think & Learn Pvt Ltd has not paid the PF money for most of its employees in FY24. While for April, the PF contribution for 3,164 employees was paid after a delay of 36 days, only 31 employees’ accounts received the payment for May.

Even the PF contributions for December 2022, January 2023, February 2023 and March 2023 was deposited only in June 2023. As per the EPFO rules, the company has to deposit the PF money for a month by the 15th of the next. A delay could attract a fine of 5-100% of the amount.

This came into light, when employees checked their PF account as the rumours of layoff surfaced in the office. “I checked my PF account only recently after the rumour of a potential layoff started surfacing in the office. That was when I realised that the PF money was last deposited in my EPFO account in December 2022, for the month of November. I immediately alerted the HR about it, but they told me that it was a technical glitch", said an employee who was laid off this month to Businessline.

Responding to businessline’s query, a BYJU’s spokesperson said that there are no pending PF payments towards the employees. “This is to confirm that there are no pending PF payments towards employees. There are no dues,” the statement to the publication read.

This comes, a week after three of Byju's board members including those representing Peak XV Partners, Prosus, and Chan Zuckerberg resigned following which its auditor Deloitte also resigned.