• Legal action to follow on failure to settle dues post-notification 

The Ministry of Labour will first notify the 22,450 companies that have defaulted on Rs. 34.9 billion in Employees Provident Fund (EPF) payments since 2015 to settle their dues and will take legal action if they fail to comply.

In response to a query by an Opposition Parliamentarian, the Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development recently informed the Parliament that 22,450 companies have defaulted on a total of Rs. 34.9 billion (Rs. 34,989,162,957.81) in EPF payments from 2015 to the present day (2025).

When queried by The Daily Morning as to whether action would be taken against the companies in question, the Deputy Minister of Labour Mahinda Jayasinghe said that they would first be notified to settle their dues. "We have gathered information on these companies and will notify them to make the payments. If they fail to comply, we will have to take legal action."

Following the recent revelation that approximately 22,450 private sector companies have failed to pay EPF contributions to their employees from 2015 to the present, the Free Trade Zones and General Services Employees Union urged the Central Bank to consult private sector trade unions before making decisions regarding the EPF. Speaking to The Daily Morning on an earlier occasion, the Union's General Secretary, Anton Marcus, said that there are currently only 2.2 million active EPF accounts, despite the private sector workforce being around eight million. He said that some might attribute this gap to the informal sector. However, he added that all private sector institutions are legally required to make EPF contributions for their employees.