EPFO: For the employed people, a news has come from the Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO), which is not only comforting but also ensures the financial security of millions of families. It has often been seen that due to the intricacies of rules, the money entitled to employees gets stuck, but the new circular issued in December 2025 has removed this problem to a great extent. EPFO has taken a historic decision by simplifying the rules of Employees Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme (EDLI). This will have a direct impact on those families whose death claims were rejected merely because the employee took a short ‘break’ while changing jobs.
Weekend hassles are over
The biggest flaw in the system till now was that if an employee resigned from the old company on Friday and joined the new company on Monday, then the intervening Saturday and Sunday were considered as ‘service break’. Technically, the employee’s family had to bear the brunt of the break in service, because ‘continuous service’ was a necessary condition to avail the benefit of EDLI.
According to the new rules, now the weekend (Saturday-Sunday) falling between two jobs will not be considered as service break. EPFO has made it clear that if there are only weekly holidays in between during the change of job, then the service of the employee will be considered continuous. This change has been made to rectify the technical flaws due to which the victim families were left empty handed despite being entitled to insurance and pension.
Relief received even on holidays
The scope of relief is not limited to Saturday and Sunday only. It has been clarified in the new circular that if any national holiday, gazetted holiday, state government holiday or restricted holiday falls in between the change of job, then it will also not be counted as service break.
At the administrative level, this decision is also important because many times employees do not take break of their own free will, rather their joining date gets extended due to holidays. Apart from this, even if an employee works in different companies with EPF cover and there is a gap of up to 60 days between the jobs, he will now be kept in the category of continuous service. This means that a small gap due to compulsion will no longer deprive the family of its protective cover.
Minimum guarantee of Rs 50 thousand
EPFO, adopting a humanitarian approach in its decision, has also increased the minimum payout under the EDLI scheme to Rs 50,000. This rule is no less than a lifesaver for the families of those employees whose salary is low or whose PF balance is not very high.
Now even if the average PF balance of a member is less than Rs 50,000, his family will still be given an amount of at least Rs 50,000 as insurance. Also, this benefit will be available even if there is no continuous service for 12 months. Not only this, if the employee dies within 6 months of the last PF contribution and he is on the rolls of the company, the family will still be entitled to a claim.
Read this also- NPS: You will not have to stretch your hands in old age! Why this government scheme is a lifeline for everyone
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