Can the employer, by his own decision and without the consent of the employee, transfer him to another pension fund? And if this happened, what to do? What goals can an employer pursue by forcing employees to transfer to another pension fund?
The reasons that encourage the employer to transfer their employees to a particular pension fund may be offers from the funds themselves and banks affiliated with them:
- about the possibility of obtaining a loan;
- about attractive credit conditions;
- on preferential rates for banking services.
In accordance with subparagraph 30) of Article 1 of the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On Pension Provision in the Republic of Kazakhstan”, a pension agreement is an agreement concluded by an accumulative pension fund, on the one hand, and by a contributor and (or) recipient, on the other hand, on the establishment , change or termination of legal relations related to pension contributions, savings and receipt of payments.
According to paragraph 2 of Article 22 of the Law “On Pension Provision”, a contributor of mandatory pension contributions is obliged to choose only one accumulative pension fund for paying mandatory pension contributions and conclude an agreement with it on pension provision at the expense of mandatory pension contributions.
Subparagraph 1 of paragraph 1 of Article 27 of this Law establishes the right of a contributor of mandatory pension contributions to independently choose an accumulative pension fund to conclude an agreement with him on pension provision at the expense of mandatory pension contributions.
Thus, a necessary condition for transferring an employee to another pension fund is the termination of the contract with the initially selected fund, the conclusion of an agreement with a new fund, and the transfer of savings to a new fund.
Moreover, all these actions are carried out only at the initiative of the employee. The opinion and wishes of the employer cannot be taken into account here.
All documents, including the new pension agreement, must be signed by the employee himself.
If the transfer of an employee to another pension fund is made in violation of the established procedure and against the will of the employee himself, these actions are invalid and can be challenged in court at the request of the employee.