The EPFO has clarified that weekends and holidays between jobs will not be considered breaks in service for EDLI death claims. This will now allow families to receive benefits even for small gaps, solving the previous rejection problem.
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EPFO: If you are employed and deposit money in your Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) account for your future, then this news is very important for you. The Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) has made an important change in December 2025. This has brought great relief to the families of millions of employees. Under the new circular, EPFO has made the rules of EDLI (Employees’ Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme) more practical. This will directly benefit those families whose death claims were previously stuck or rejected due to minor technical reasons or minor gaps that arose while changing jobs.
This new circular will significantly benefit employees who change jobs and their dependents. This new decision will no longer consider breaks in service due to weekends and government holidays, potentially eliminating disputes related to death claims.
Service break will not be considered due to holiday
EPFO has clarified that if an employee leaves one company and joins another company and there is only a Saturday, Sunday or any declared holiday in between, then it will not be considered as a break in service. Earlier, it was seen in many cases that if there was a weekend between two jobs, a break was considered in the service of the employee, due to which his family was not able to get the benefits related to insurance and pension. For example, an employee resigns from a company on Friday and joins a new company on Monday. In total, he has served for more than 12 months, but the weekend in between was considered as a break. As a result, the family was not able to get the benefit of EDLI.
These are the new rules
1. Saturday, Sunday or fixed weekly holiday falling between two jobs will not be considered as a break.
2. National holidays, gazetted holidays, state holidays and restricted holidays will also be ignored.
3. This will be applicable if these are the only holidays between leaving the old company and joining the new one.
4. If an employee works in multiple EPF covered companies and there is a gap of up to 60 days between jobs, it will still be considered as continuous service.
5. This means that short and forced breaks will no longer deprive the family of insurance benefits.
Minimum EDLI payout increased to ₹ 50,000
The EPFO has increased the minimum payout under the EDLI scheme to ₹ 50,000. This amount will be paid to the nominee even if the employee has not completed 12 months of continuous service. Furthermore, even if the member’s average PF balance is less than ₹ 50,000, a minimum payout of ₹ 50,000 will still be made. This decision is considered a major relief for families of low-paid and new employees.
Relief in the condition of 6 months in case of death
According to the new circular, if an employee dies within six months of the last PF contribution date and is still on the employer’s rolls, the minimum EDLI benefit will still apply. Previously, claims in such cases were often met with considerable confusion and delays.
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