The biggest fear while changing jobs is that PF, service record or insurance benefits may be affected. Many times a gap of just two-four days or weekend holidays has caused great loss to the families of the employees. Now, to address this concern, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) has made such changes in the rules, which will directly benefit lakhs of employees and their families.
EPFO has simplified the rules related to job change and Employee Deposit Linked Insurance (EDLI) scheme. Under the new rules, if there is a maximum gap of 60 days between two jobs, then it will not be considered as a break in the service of the employee. This means that now even a short time gap during change of job will be counted towards the continuous service of the employee.
relief in insurance benefits
The biggest impact of this change will be on insurance benefits. According to the new rules, if an EPFO member dies within 60 days of receiving the last PF contribution and he was recorded as an employee in the company’s records, his family will get the benefits of the insurance scheme. Earlier in such cases the insurance claim was rejected citing service break.
weekend break is over
Apart from this, Saturday, Sunday or gazetted holiday falling during change of job will also not be considered as service break. Earlier, if an employee left the old company on Friday and joined the new company after the weekend or holiday, this period was considered as a break. If the employee dies suddenly during this period, the family would not be able to get the benefit of EDLI scheme.
minimum insurance increased
EPFO has also taken a big decision regarding the minimum insurance amount. Now, dependents of employees who had not worked continuously for 12 months before death or whose PF account balance was less than Rs 50,000 will also get an insurance benefit of at least Rs 50,000. Earlier, families would get little or no benefits in these cases.
Ministry Initiative
In fact, many such cases had come to the notice of the Ministry of Labor and Employment, where an employee died while changing jobs, but due to technical rules, his family was deprived of insurance benefits. After this the ministry decided to change the rules. The objective of the new circular issued by EPFO is clear that after the death of the employee, his family does not have to face unnecessary difficulties in getting insurance benefits. This change is a big relief for the employed people and is considered a strong step towards social security.
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