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Continuous Service Definition EPFO: Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) has shared a big relief news for crores of employees working in the private sector. Often, when changing jobs, insurance claims get rejected due to intervening holidays, but now EPFO ​​has ended this confusion. The organization has provided ‘Continuous Service’ under the Employee Deposit Linked Insurance (EDLI) Scheme. New clarity has been issued on the rules. This change will directly benefit those families who are entitled to the insurance amount in case of any untoward incident.

Holidays are no longer a hindrance between job changes

According to the new circular issued by EPFO, if an employee leaves one company and joins another company and during this period there is a Saturday, Sunday or any government holiday, then he will be given a ‘break’ in service. Will not be counted. For example, if you resign on Friday and join a new job on Monday, the intervening two days will be considered as continuous service. Earlier, in many cases, death claims were rejected considering these short holidays as breaks, due to which the family of the deceased had to suffer financial loss.

EDLI scheme and increase in minimum insurance amount

The main objective of the EDLI scheme is to provide financial security to the family of an employee in case he dies while in service. EPFO has clarified that even if a member had not worked continuously for 12 months before death and his PF balance was less than Rs 50,000, his legal heir would still get a minimum claim of Rs 50,000. The maximum claim amount can be up to Rs 7 lakh. This amount is deposited directly into the nominee’s bank account.

Relief to those working in many companies

EPFO has also clarified that if a member has worked in different companies in the last one year which come under the purview of PF, then he will be considered for ‘continuous service’. Only this will be considered. Even a gap of up to 60 days between two jobs will not affect the insurance benefits. Additionally, if an employee dies while on the job and his previous PF contribution has been deposited within 6 months, his family will be fully eligible for the claim.

EES-2025: Golden opportunity for employees left out of PF

Apart from the insurance rules, the government has also announced the ‘Employees Enrollment Scheme (EES)-2025’ Has also been announced. This scheme will run for 6 months starting from November 2025. Under this, those employees who were working between July 2017 and October 2025 but were left out of the scheme due to some reasons can be added to PF coverage. Companies have been advised to take advantage of this moratorium to ensure registration of all their eligible employees so that they can get social security benefits in future.