Uche Usim, Abuja and Chiamaka Ajeamo
Employers of labour who fail to procure the minimum required Life Insurance Policy for their workers may soon be sanctioned by the National Pension Commission (PenCom).
Consequently, the pension regulator has directed employees to report any employer that fails in that regard, even as it stressed that the Life Insurance Policy in their favour should not be less than three times their annual total emolument.
Also to be hammered are organisations that fail to remit the deducted pension contributions into their Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) or funds contributed by employers are not remitted to the Pension Fund Custodian (PFC) by the employer not later than seven working days from the date of payment of their salaries.
PenCom disclosed in Abuja in a notice entitled: ‘Re Compliance with guidelines for life insurance policy for employees and submission of insurance certificate for 2020’. It stated that it was the right of all employees in the Public Service of the Federation, Federal Capital Territory and States that have implemented the Contributory Pension Scheme as well as private sector, under Section 4(5) of the PRA 2014 to have Life Insurance Policy taken on their behalf by their employers for an insured amount of not less than three times their annual total emolument.
The commission also advised employees to bring to its notice, where the employer fails to: “submit the evidence of compliance with Life Insurance Policy and place the certificate in a conspicuous place within the organisation.
“The Insurance Certificates shall state that all employees are covered up to an amount not less than 3 times their respective Annual Total Emoluments (ATE).
“Employers that have not yet submitted copies of Insurance Certificates for the current year to the Commission, are therefore advised to do so before March 31, 2020 failing which the National Pension Commission would consider such employers in default of Section 4(5) of the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2014. “Please note also that compliance with PRA 2014 is not complete without the Group Life Insurance Policy, it noted.
In a related development, PenCom has directed all employers of labour covered by the Pension Reform Act 2014 to submit copies of their Insurance Certificates with the schedule of benefits to the commission before March 31.