India: Non-Refundable Advance to a Member In Case of Continuous Unemployment: Employee’s Provident Fund Scheme (Amendment), 2018

The Employees’ Provident Funds Scheme 1952 (“EPF Law”), which is a social security legislation, wherein an employee and an employer contribute certain percentage of the employee’s salary in a government controlled fund. The EPF Law has now been amended with effect from December 06, 2018. As per the amendment of the EPF Law, a member of the employees’ provident fund can now withdraw money for a maximum of 75% of the credit balance from his or her account, if the member has not been employed in any factory or establishment for a continuous period of not less than 1 month. This is as an addition to the other circumstances under the EPF law wherein an employee is permitted to make refundable or non-refundable withdrawals from their accounts.

This comes as a relief measure to the members who have been unemployed for a month or more, as they will now allow them to meet their financial contingencies in times of unemployment.