REGULATIONS FOR FEDERAL OFFICES OUTSIDE OF WASHINGTON.1 I. BOARD OF LABOR EMPLOYMENT. SECTION 1. A board of labor employment shall be appointed by the United States Civil Service Commission from the members of its own force for each of the United States civil-service districts, and shall consist of the following officials: The district secretary of each district, who shall be ex officio chairman of the board of labor employment. An agent and a recorder, whose various duties shall be prescribed from time to time by the commission. SEC. 2. In addition to the three members of the board for the entire district, the commission shall, in each city outside of the district headquarters where these regulations are in force, appoint a person in the Federal service in that city as an auxiliary member of the board, who shall serve as a full member of the board in connection with the appointment of unskilled laborers in the service in such city and who shall perform such duties as the commission may from time to time prescribe. SEC. 3. In the event that in any civil-service district there is not a sufficient number of the commission's employees available, detail may be made to the commission's force for the filling of vacancies in the labor employment board, until the commission shall have men of its own to relieve such detail. SEC. 4. Necessary changes from time to time may be made in the personnel of said board by the commission, and all the work and duties of said board shall be performed under the direction and subject to review and final action in each case by the commission. SEC. 5. At such offices or manufacturing establishments as have regulations governing the classified service and an organized board of examiners, such board may in the discretion of the commission also act as a board of labor employment. II. QUALIFICATIONS OF APPLICANTS. SEC. 1. No person shall be admitted to examination who is not a citizen of the United States, or who is less than 20 or more than 50 years of age, except that veterans of the Civil War who have been honorably discharged may be examined without regard to their age. SEC. 2. The board may refuse to register an applicant for the following reasons: (a) Dismissal from the public service-Federal, State, or municipal-for misconduct within one year preceding. (b) Physical or mental unfitness. Criminal, infamous, dishonest, immoral, or notoriously disgraceful conduct. (d) Intentionally making a false statement in any material fact or practicing deception or fraud in securing registration or appointment. (e) Habitual intoxication. SEC. 3. Application for examination shall be made in such form and manner, and be accompanied by such certificates, as the commission may prescribe. SEC. 4. No information shall be received or considered concerning the political or religious opinions or affiliations of any applicant. 1 Regulations promulgated Dec. 12, 1904, and amended on July 12, 1905, and Nov. 22, 1907, were superseded by new regulations promulgated July 3, 1909-those here given-which are now in force. They may be applied to such Federal offices as the Civil Service Commission may deem expedient. They are at present in effect in the following cities, the first named in each district being the headquarters of the district and of the board of labor employment for that district: First district.-Boston, Mass.; Portland, Me.; Providence, R. I. Second district.-New York, Brooklyn, Buffalo, N. Y.; Newark, N. J. Third district.-Philadelphia, Allegheny, Pittsburgh, Pa. Fourth district.-Baltimore, Md.; Newport News, Va.; Norfolk, Va.; and immediate vicinity. The employment of unskilled laborers in Washington, D. C., the headquarters of the fourth civil-service district, is governed by the regulations promulgated Nov. 15, 1904. Fifth district.-Atlanta, Ga. Sixth district.-Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Toledo, Ohio; Indianapolis, Jeffersonville, Ind.; Louisville, Covington, Ky. Seventh district.-Chicago, Ill.; Detroit, Mich.; Milwaukee, Wis. Ninth district.-St. Louis, Kansas City, Mo.; Kansas City, Kans. Tenth district.-New Orleans, La.; San Antonio, Tex. Eleventh district.-Seattle, Wash.; Portland, Oreg. Twelfth district.-San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles, Cal.; Denver, Colo. III. RATINGS AND ELIGIBILITY. SEC. 1. Applicants shall be rated on a scale of 100 upon their physical qualifications and apparent ability to perform manual labor, by a physician designated by the commission. Competitors shall be duly notified of their rating. See note to Regulation III of regulations effective in Washington, page 107, as to method of rating. The weight of the bag for cities other than Washing ton and Baltimore (for which it is 140 pounds) is 125 pounds. SEC. 2. Upon completion of the physical examinations the board shall enter upon registers, by sex, the names of applicants rated at 85 or more, as follows: Male eligibles— (a) Persons honorably discharged from the Army or Navy of the United States by reason of wounds or disability incurred in line of duty, in the order of their physical rating. (b) Honorably discharged veterans of the Civil War, in the order of their physical rating. (c) All others in order of physical rating. Female eligibles will be entered on the registers in the order of physical rating. SEC. 3. The period of eligibility shall be one year from the date of entry upon the register; but eligible registers may be extended for a longer time by the direction of the commission, when such action is deemed necessary in the interest of the service. SEC. 4. A copy of the register shall be kept in a place accessible to the public in the office of the district secretary of the district in which the applicants are eligible, and elsewhere as the commission may direct. IV. APPOINTMENT. SEC. 1. Any position or employment of a mere laborer or workman in the unclassified service, unless filled by reinstatement, transfer, promotion, or reduction, shall be filled in the following manner: (a) The nominating or appointing officer shall request the certification of eligibles, specifying sex and principal duties of the position, and the board shall certify from the proper register the three names at the head thereof, of the sex specified, which may not have been certified three times in the office in which the vacancy exists. The commission may, however, in any civil-service district, certify from its register the three standing highest thereon shown by said register to possess the requisite qualifications for the position to be filled. Under the provisions of this section certifying, nominating, or appointing officers may call for such vouchers or make such inquiries as they may deem advisable to satisfy themselves as to the possession of qualifications claimed by eligibles. The difficulty encountered in securing satisfactory eligibles for four-line teamsters and deckhands in the Quar termaster Corps at San Francisco, Cal., has been met by authorizing investigations along the lines set forth above. (Commission Circular No. 1725, June, 1910.) See note to Regulation V effective in Washington, page 108, for the nature of duties which may properly be considered unclassified. (b) The nominating or appointing officer shall make selection from the three names certified, with sole reference to fitness, unless he shall offer written objections which the board, with the approval of the commission, may deem sufficient, in which case a new certificate shall be issued, omitting the names of those to whom objection has been made. (c) The person selected for appointment shall be duly notified by the appointing officer, and upon reporting for duty shall be given a fair trial of his conduct and capacity. SEC. 2. A laborer separated without misconduct may, upon written application, be restored to the register of eligibles for his remaining period of eligibility, or may be reemployed without further certification, in the office from which he was separated at any time within one year. SEC. 3. When a demand for appointment or employment arises which can not be met in the manner provided in section 1 a person whose name is either not on the register or not in turn for certification may be appointed temporarily; but such appointment shall continue only during the continuance, in the judgment of the commission, of the conditions which necessitated it, and no such person shall be thus employed more than thirty days in any period of twelve months, except as provided in Regulation VI hereof. SEC. 4. A person appointed to an unclassified position shall not be assigned to work of a classified competitive position, and shall not be transferred or promoted to such a position except in accordance with the Executive order of April 21, 1909, viz: The Executive order made by President Roosevelt of date March 30, 1905, recites as follows: "With the view that hereafter under no circumstances whatever shall any unclassified laborer be assigned to classified work, I direct that the additional laborers referred to as shown in reports already made to the Civil Service Commission be regarded as classified in the positions occupied by them on the date of this order, and that they may be promoted to the clerical grade or transferred in the manner provided by the civil-service rules and regulations." It appears that in certain cases the work of various departments, independent offices, and bureaus is of such character that it can not be economically and conveniently done consistently with a rigorous adherence to the division between classified and unclassified work. In such cases unclassified laborers are engaged for the greater part of their time on unclassified work, but at the same time there is certain classified work which could be more economically and conveniently done if such laborers were permitted to do it incidentally, and not as a part of their main work or employment. It is therefore ordered that hereafter where such a state of things exists as is above recited unclassified laborers may be assigned to classified work incidentally, but not as a part of their main work, in cases where such work can not be conveniently and economically done by classified employees, but never without the prior consent of the Civil Service Commission, obtained before such assignment, and with a view to the doing of the particular classified work in question by unclassified employees. V. REMOVALS. SEC. 1. No laborer shall be removed except for such cause as, in the judgment of the head of the office, will promote the efficiency of the service, and no trial or hearing shall be required except at the discretion of the officer making the removal. SEC. 2. The reasons for any removal shall be made of record in the office in which the person is serving, and shall be open to the inspection of the board and the commission. SEC. 3. Heads of offices shall require assistant superintendents or foremen of divisions or crews to make monthly reports showing specifically the kind of labor performed by the unclassified laborers in their charge, which report shall be open to the inspection of the board and the commission. VI. DEMOTIONS, TRANSFERS, AND EXTENSIONS OF TEMPORARY SERVICE. SEC. 1. The commission shall have authority to authorize: (a) The demotion of any person from the classified service to the position of mere unskilled laborer, and the appointment of such person, in consequence of such demotion, upon his passing the required physical examination, to the position of mere unskilled laborer; a statement of duties in every case to be attached to the application of the department for such demotion, showing the duties of the person proposed to be demoted in the old and new position. (b) The transfer of any mere unskilled laborer from any office or bureau to another, provided that such unskilled laborer is in good standing and has had at least six months' experience, and the qualifications in the new position are the same as those in the old. (c) The temporary appointment of a mere unskilled laborer for a period to exceed 30 days in cases of great and evident necessity. "Where eligibles can not be secured within the period of 30 days and no register of eligibles exists, such condition will be construed as bringing the case within the intent of the regulation provid ing for extension beyond 30 days in 'cases of great and evident necessity."" (Minute of commission, May 19, 1910.) VII. REPORT OF APPOINTMENTS AND CHANGES. SEC. 1. If a position of laborer requires, in connection with the usual duties of mere laborer, the performance of work of the grade done by classified employees, it should be filled from a register for the classified service and not under these regulations. No person who is to perform manual labor merely, in cities where the labor regulations are in force, shall be appointed otherwise than in accordance with these regulations. See note to Regulation V, effective in Washing- erly be considered unclassified. ton, page 108, for nature of duties which may prop SEC. 2. Nominating or appointing officers in cities where these regulations are in force shall make monthly reports of appointments and changes in the status of all laborers to the commission and shall state specifically in each case of appointment or change of duties the kind of labor performed and, where the laborer is assigned to more than one kind of work, approximately the length of time assigned to classified and unclassified work daily. The board of labor employment shall have access to the pay roll for the purpose of checking up said reports. VIII. EXTENSION OF THE REGULATIONS. The commission is authorized to extend the application of these regulations to Federal offices in other cities than those in which they are now in force. REGULATIONS GOVERNING THE APPOINTMENT OF POSTMASTERS OF THE FOURTH CLASS. [As approved by the President Nov. 25, 1912, and amended by the President May 7, 1913.] All positions of postmaster of the fourth class, except in Alaska, Guam, Hawaii, Porto Rico, and Samoa having been by the Executive order of October 15, 1912, placed in the competitive classified service and made subject to the civil-service laws and rules, the following regulations shall govern appointments to such positions: 1. Appointment to offices having an annual compensation of as much as $180 shall be made in the same manner as provided by the civil-service laws and rules for other positions in the competitive classified service: Provided, That in the event that for the examination for any such office less than three persons apply, the Civil Service Commission may, in its discretion, authorize selection in accordance with section 2 of these regulations. 2. Appointment to offices having an annual compensation of less than $180 shall be made in the following manner: When a vacancy has occurred or is about to occur in any such office, the Postmaster General shall direct a post-office inspector to visit the locality and make report for appointment from among the persons filing applications, in the order of their fitness; due notice of such visit shall be made in the locality to be visited; such report shall be based solely upon the suitability of the applicant and his ability to provide proper facilities for transacting the business of the office. The inspector shall make his report in duplicate and accompany each duplicate with a list of all applicants. Such report shall include a statement of the qualifications of each applicant and of the reasons for such report. The Post Office Department shall transmit to the Civil Service Commission one copy of such report showing the action thereon. 3. Whenever persons who are property taxpayers and patrons of a post office having an annual compensation of less than $180 submit to the Civil Service Commission and to the Post Office Department sworn statements in duplicate, over their own signatures, that an applicant, an eligible, or an appointee is unsuitable for office, giving specific reasons therefor, the commission may investigate the matter; and if upon the evidence it is shown to the satisfaction of the commission that, in the case of an applicant or an eligible, he is unsuitable for appointment, he shall not be further considered for appointment; and if, in like manner, it is shown to the satisfaction of the commission that an appointee is unsuitable for office he shall be removed after due procedure required by law; and the Post Office Department shall, upon receipt of such sworn statements from patrons, suspend appointment in the case of an applicant or eligible to which such sworn statements may relate until said investigation is made by the Civil Service Commission and reported. 4. In all cases selection for appointment shall be made with sole reference to merit and fitness and without regard to political or religious considerations. No inquiry shall be made as to the political or religious opinions or affiliations of any applicant or eligible, and in conformity with section 10 of the civil-service act no recommendation in any way based thereon shall be received or considered by any officer concerned in making selections or appointments. The attention of the writer of any such recommendation shall be invited to the purport of this order, and attention hereto shall be similarly directed in connection with any verbal recommendation. Where it is found that there has been a violation of these provisions by any officer concerned in making selections or appointments, such fact shall be cause for the immediate removal of such officer from the service, and the Civil Service Commission shall make prompt report of any such case for appropriate action to the Postmaster General or, as to presidential appointees, to the President. The appointment of the fourth-class postmaster concerned, if effected, shall be canceled. Persons employed as postmasters of the fourth class, while retaining the right to vote as they please and to express their opinions privately on all political subjects, shall take no active part in political management or in political campaigns. Any such postmaster taking such part shall be removed from the service or otherwise disciplined, recommendation as to the penalty to be im posed in each case to be made by the Civil Service Commission. This section shall apply to all offices of the fourth class of whatever compensation. 5. A postmaster of the fourth class having an annual compensation of less than $500 shall not be eligible for transfer to any other position in the competitive classified service. A postmaster of the fourth class having an annual compensation of as much as $500 may, in accordance with law and the civil-service rules, be transferred to a position of rural carrier at the same post office after having passed the examination prescribed for original appointment as rural carrier or its equivalent; and he may be transferred under like restrictions to any other position in the competitive classified service after having served three years in such service. 6. When the annual compensation of an office is increased to as much as $180 the incumbent of such office shall be given all the rights and privileges of persons appointed to offices with annual compensation of as much as $180. 7. No person shall be appointed under the regulations of November 25, 1912, as amended, as postmaster of an office of the fourth class where the annual compensation is as much as $500 after he has reached his sixty-fifth birthday. The President has issued the following Executive orders: MAY 7, 1913. The Executive orders of November 30, 1908, and October 15, 1912, bringing the positions of postmaster of the fourth class into the competitive classified service, are hereby amended by adding thereto the following: "No person occupying the position of postmaster of the fourth class shall be given a competitive classified status under the provisions of said orders unless he has been appointed as a result of open competitive examination, or under the regulations of November 25, 1912, or of January 20, 1909, or until he is so appointed. "At any post office of the fourth class where the present postmaster was appointed otherwise than as above set forth, appointment shall be made in accordance with the regulations approved November 25, 1912, as amended this date; and for this purpose the Civil Service Commission shall hold an open competitive examination for each such office having an annual compensation of as much as $180, such examinations for all such post offices to be held by States, as requested by the Postmaster General: Provided, That in the event that for any such examination less than three persons apply the Civil Service Commission may, in its discretion, authorize selection in accordance with the provisions of the regulations as amended this date governing selections for appointment to offices having annual compensation of less than $180; and in like manner the regulations of November 25, 1912, as amended this date, shall be applied to each office where the annual compensation is less than $180 and where the present incumbent was appointed otherwise than as above set forth.” JANUARY 12, 1915. The Civil Service Commission having reported that at a number of offices no eligibles were secured as a result of the examination for fourth-class postmaster, under the Executive order of May 7, 1913, providing for a competitive examination for each post office where the postmaster was appointed otherwise than under the regulations of November 25, 1912, or of January 20, 1909, that order is hereby amended by adding the following: The Civil Service Commission shall hold a second examination for each office which has an annual compensation of as much as $500 and for which no eligibles were secured as a result of the first examination. The commission may also in its discretion hold a second examination for any office for which no eligibles were secured as a result of the first examination and which has an annual compensation of between $180 and $500. CLASSIFICATION OF THE EXECUTIVE CIVIL SERVICE. The classification of the civil service, based upon section 163, Revised Statutes, was adopted by each head of a department and Government establishment by direction of the President on June 9, 1896. It arranges officers and employees, other than mere laborers and persons whose appointments are confirmed by the Senate, in classes according to annual salary or compensation, as follows: A. Less than $720. B. $720 or more and less than $840. 2. $1,400 or more and less than $1,600. 3. $1,600 or more and less than $1,800. 4. $1,800 or more and less than $2,000. 5. $2,000 or more and less than $2,500. 6. $2,500 or more. |