1940: Civil Service

The year 1940 in the Federal civil service is noteworthy for the speeding up of the processes of recruitment and training of personnel to meet the needs of the national defense program. Executive orders and internal changes of policies and procedures have been the means of increasing the tempo of the handling of personnel matters without decrease in quality of service rendered.

Among the changes in Federal civil service rules are the following:

(1) Removal of time limits formerly placed on reinstatements of employees, provided the reinstatements are to a national defense agency.

(2) Introduction of a system whereby personnel actions for all national defense agencies are completed within twenty-four hours.

(3) Broadening of retirement provisions to permit persons who have been or who may be retired from the War and Navy Departments on account of age to be reemployed or retained in those agencies during the period of the emergency.

(4) Reinforcement of a policy prohibiting discrimination because of race in employment in classified civil service positions.

The Advisory Commission to the Council on National Defense was augmented by the appointment of an expert in Federal personnel matters, Mr. William H. McReynolds, Liaison Officer for Personnel Management, one of President Roosevelt's six administrative assistants. The function of this Commission is to coordinate rearmament with industry, agriculture, transportation, labor, and finance. The Civil Service Commission is directly represented on the National Defense Commission by an employee assigned to the staff of the representative of labor.

A legislative enactment of far-reaching importance was the Ramspeck Bill (H.R. 960) which was signed by the President on Nov. 26, 1940. This Act gives to the President the authority to issue an executive order bringing under civil service between 100,000 and 125,000 positions previously outside the civil service. The present holders of these positions must pass non-competitive examinations and be recommended by their agency heads before they themselves acquire civil service status. The Act also empowers the President, after proper study, to extend to the field service the salary scales prevailing in the departmental service. The salaries of the three civil service commissioners are raised from $8,500 to $10,000.

The first general revision of the civil service rules since 1938 was made in an executive order dated Nov. 7, 1940. Among other provisions was one authorizing the Commission to make use of state and local civil service registers for Federal appointments, provided the examination standards and requirements were comparable. Another provision was the reduction of the probationary period for Federal workers from a year to six months; however, the Commission is authorized to require longer probations for particular positions.

Sick and annual leave provisions were broadened by Public No. 419 to permit such leave to be charged only on days when employees would normally work and receive pay. Thus employees absent on account of illness on Sundays, Saturday afternoons not occurring within a duty period, and holidays, no longer have these days charged against sick leave.

An amendment to the original Hatch Act of Aug. 2, 1939, was approved on July 19, 1940. This amendment makes it unlawful for persons in state positions or activities financed in whole or in part by Federal grants or loans to use their official authority to interfere with or to influence elections. These employees are also forbidden to take active part in political campaigns, aside from voting, nor may they coerce any other such employee to contribute anything of value to any political cause.

Definite progress was made in 1940 toward the coordination and consolidation of the work of Federal agencies. Two major Reorganization Plans submitted by the President and approved by the Congress went into effect on July 1, 1939, and Reorganization Plan No. III was set forth in an executive order issued on April 2, 1940. This order established the Fiscal Service of the Treasury Department, placing it under an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury selected according to civil service rules. Thus for the first time in the history of this country an Assistant Secretary of an executive department will be named in accordance with civil service laws. The position pays $10,000 a year.

Throughout the year work was carried on by the Committee on Civil Service Improvement, named by the President in January, 1939, to study and report on the best methods of applying the merit system to the professional, scientific, and certain administrative and technical positions in the Federal service. Justice Stanley Reed, of the U. S. Supreme Court, is chairman of the Committee of seven. Among the positions being studied are those for which the Civil Service Commission has felt competitive examinations impracticable.

At the Civil Service Commission work proceeded on the project for which funds finally became available in 1939, a project advocated by the original Council of Personnel Administration. This is a complete punch-card record of all civil service employees. For the first time these employees will have their personal history records assembled in one central place, so coded that appointment officers can locate, almost instantly, all those having a desired characteristic or qualification.

The National Register of Scientific and Specialized Personnel is another Federal effort to know and evaluate our man power. This latter list will contain on punch cards pertinent information concerning the education and experience of half a million persons in the sciences and professions in the United States.

The Research Division of the Commission pioneered in developing written examinations for professional positions above the P-1 grade. An aim in the improved examination is to prevent giving advantage to the applicant recently graduated from college. The Research Division also pioneered in a technique for rating written reports according to a point scale.

The year 1940 was definitely one of expansion for both Federal and state civil service jurisdictions. In a census taken this year there were found to be 1,099 Federal, state, and local civil service jurisdictions in the United States. This includes 869 cities and 17 states. In addition, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines operate to some extent under civil service. Hawaii's civil service commission completed its first year of existence on June 30, 1940.