EPFO – The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) manages EPF accounts for millions of account holders across the country, and new rules and regulations are frequently introduced. In December 2025, the EPFO implemented a significant change that will provide considerable relief to the families of lakhs of employees.
The EPFO has made the rules of the EDLI (Employees’ Deposit Linked Insurance) scheme more practical. This will directly benefit families whose death claims were previously stalled or rejected due to minor technical reasons or small gaps in employment between jobs. The new EPFO rules will provide significant benefits to employees who change jobs and their dependents.
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This will not be considered a service break.
The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation has clarified that if an employee leaves one company and joins another, and the only gap between jobs is a Saturday or a declared holiday, it will not be considered a break in service. Previously, in many cases, a weekend between jobs was considered a break in service.
This prevented the employee’s family from receiving insurance and pension benefits. For example, if an employee resigned from one company on Friday and joined a new company on Monday, even if they had completed more than 12 months of service, the intervening weekend was considered a break, preventing the family from receiving EDLI benefits.
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What is the new rule?
Now, Saturdays and Sundays or other designated weekly holidays between two jobs will not be considered a break in service. National holidays, gazetted holidays, state holidays, and restricted holidays will also be disregarded. This rule will apply only if the gap between leaving the old company and joining the new one consists solely of these holidays.
Additionally, if an employee works for multiple companies covered under EPF and there is a gap of up to two months (60 days) between jobs, it will still be considered continuous service. Short and unavoidable breaks will no longer deprive families of insurance benefits.