Evening star., 1898-12-05
LEAVES FOR CLERKS
Establishment of the Custom Giving
Sixty Days,
Opinion of the Judge Advocate Gem
eraI of the Army IndOrsed by
the Attorney General.

Acting Secretary Meiklejohn of the Wal
Department today issued a circular en-
hodying the opinions of the judge advocate
general of the army and the Attorney Gen
erdl in regard to the matter of leaves of alb
Sence of clerks and other employees of the
executive departments under existing laws
The opinions are approved by the acting
secretary as applicable to the War Depart
ment and will be made applicable to all
the other Departments.
Their importance lies in the fact that they
overturn existing regulations in most of
the departments and re-establish the for
mer custom, whereby government employees
We're allowed thirty days leave and addi-
tional leave to the extent of thirty days in
case of sickness.
The opinions referred to. which will here
after govern all the executive departments
in this matter, are embodied in the follow
ing communication from Attorney General
GrIggs to the Secretary of War:
Sir: | have the honor to acknowledge re
ceipt of your communication of October q,
requesting my opinion upon the provisions
of the statute of March 1J 1898, which pro-
Vidcs that the head OF any department may
grant thirty days leave with pay in any one
year 10 each clerk or employe. and also that
in exceptional and meritOrlOuS cases, where
clerk employe is personally ill, and
where to limit the annual leave to thirty
days would work peculiar hardship, the
leave may De extended Win pay not SActeu-
ing thirty days.
You also request my opinion as to the
effect upon the act above stated OF the pro-
visions Of the later act of July Z, 1898,
which provides tnat nothing contained in
section I of the act of march i, 1898, shall
be construed to prevent the head OF the
department from granting thirty days an
nual leave with pay to a clerk or emp1oye,
notwithstanding the clerk or employe may
have had not exceeding thirty days leave
with pay on account of sickness.
You accompany your request with an
opinion communicated to you by the judge
advocate general which states the case and
the principles of law to be applied and the
proper conclusions therefrOm so satisfacto-
rily and so in accord with my own views
that l quote the same as follows:
Judge Advocate Generals Opinion.
I'm this case = q clerk of the
record and pension office. is stated to have
been absent during the present year thirty
nine days, with pay, on account of sick
ness: and the question has arisen as to
whether ne is entitled to twenty-one days
additional as annual leave.
e In my opinion the substance of the two
acts taken together is that Il clerk may be
granted as much as sixty days leave with
pay in the whole year, provided that as
much as thirty lays of it was made really
necessary by his personal illness. In other
words, he may be granted as much as
thirty days without any cause given tcalled
in the statutes annual leave }, and he may
be granted this, Notwithstanding he may
have had not exceeding thirty days sick
leave. and if he shall take mis- thirty days
annual leave and then become sick after
ward he may be granted leave on account
of his sickness for as many days as he may
be sick up to thirty days.
80 was absent sick more than
thirty days; that is. it is said he was alb
sent sick thirty-nine days, and was paid
for the whole time. 1t is assumed that he
IA HpI- nf he i'm he
cause his absence was made necessary by
sickness. and for the other nine on account
of annual leave, Notwithstanding he was
sick at the time.
1T is further asked in the first indorse
ment hereon whether the exceptional, mer-
itorious, etc, provisions of the said act OF
March 10, 1s4s, are nullified by the later
act. In my opinion they are. Under either
act the head of the department may grant
as much as sixty days. under certain cir
cumstanCes named. Clearly one of the OBJ
iects of the later act was to authorize the
annual leave to be granted after the sick
leave had been taken. for it provides that
it may be granted Notwithstanding the
applicant may have had not exceeding
thirty days sick leave. In fact, this seems
to be the principal if not the sole object OF
the last act.
Now the first act provided in substance.
that the sick leave should he an extension
of the annual leave. and that this extension
of the annual leave should not he granted
with pay unless the circumstances of the
case were of such exceptional and merito-
riOus character as TO make it a hardship
not to grant it,
And if the sickness comes before the
annual leave is taken Il cannot be deter
mined a the time the sick leave is taken
whether or not il would work a hardship not
to extend the annual leave on account of
it. If. for instance, the clerk is sick ten
days early in the year, and before the an
nual leave is taken, it could not be deter
mined then whether it would be a hard
ship 10 deduct the time from his thirty
days annual leave or not, because 1t could
not be determined then whether the person
would need more than twenty days annual
leave that year or not. Therefore, to pro-
vide that the sick leave may be granted
first and thirty days annual leave after
ward makes 1t inpracticable to apply the
said exceptional and meritorious, etc,
clause or provision of the act of March Il,
1898, and to SO legisate as to prevent the
application of previous legislation is to re-
peal the previous legislation by implication
Il am therefore of the opinion that TAX
ing the whole of the law as IL STANDS now,
and constituting it together, it is proper TO
hold that II re-establishes the old and sim
pie law and custom of the department TO
the effect that the Secretary of War NAV
Through the heads of bureaus or person.
ailyj, grant clerks and employees thirty
days leave with pay each year without any
cause being given, and may also, aside from
that. grant the applicant leave with pay
during such time as he is compelled by sick
ness to be absent, up to as much as thirty
days
The conclusions reached by the judge ad-
Vocate general are, in my opinion, sound
and correct. correct. and you are therefore advised
JOHN W. GRIGGs. Attorney General
-ee
EDWARD GRADY's OFFENsE.