Usually, employees covered under the Employees' Pension Scheme (EPS) know that they are eligible for pension from the age of retirement itself. However, many people do not know that if they have been covered under the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) for more than 20 years, they are also entitled to the bonus. This bonus is given in the form of additional service years as specified under the pension scheme. Once this bonus is added to your service years, it increases the pension amount that you are eligible to receive.
Experts say, 'If an employee has served 20 years or more under the EPF scheme, then two years are added to the service period. This service period can be with one employer or with different employers. In case, they are covered under the EPF scheme. Note that the maximum service period under EPS is 35 years.
For instance, If an employee has worked for 21 years with multiple employers while continuously contributing to EPF and EPS accounts, then as per the EPF law, the maximum limit of pensionable salary is Rs 15,000. The eligible pension amount is Rs 4,500. Now, if bonus service years i.e 2 years are added to the pensionable service years, the pension amount will become Rs.4,929. Due to the addition of bonus service years, the pension amount has increased by Rs429.