New Delhi, May 26 -- In a relief for employees whose savings are locked out because of an overlap in service periods, the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), the state-backed retirement fund manager, has issued instructions that claims of such subscribers can't be rejected. An overlap in service period occurs when an employee is shown to be working in two different companies on the same date and this can happen when exit date from one company and the joining date in another firm overlap due to various technical reasons or errors. "It has been observed that transfer claim requests are being rejected due to the issue of overlap in service periods by the regional offices. However, overlapping in services can occur due to genuine reasons and therefore the same should not be considered to be a disqualification per se in effecting transfers," a circular issued by the EPFO to all its offices on May 20 states. Provident funds provide retirement income and a financial safety net for nearly 70 million salaried Indians. It is often the key corpus of lifetime savings for working people. The EPFO said transfer claims, where a previous PF account is sought to be transferred to a current one to consolidate the savings, which can then be withdrawn, should be processed even if there are overlapping services. Such transfer claim requests should be paused only in cases where a genuine need for clarification is felt, the circular said. P8...