Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-03
SICK LEAVE CURTAILED.
Department Chiefs If They Choose
Can Be Arbitrary.

"a clerk in one of the downtown depart
ments came to me the other day with rath
er novel question. but one affecting the
army of clerical government employees in
this city, said local attorney to Star
reporter.
HE informed me that the head of the
department In which he served had recently
promulgated a new rule to the granting
Of sick leave something like this: If clerks
during the past two or three years have
had In each year during this period over
ten days sick leave, together with their
annual leave. making forty days In all per
annum during this period. that no sick
leave would be granted to these clerks dur
ing the ensuing year, and that any sick
leave had would be deducted from their
annual leave-that Is, If clerk has one
day or the entire thirty as sick he loses
one day from his annual leave or all Of it,
as the case may be- The clerk asked me
II / thought this was a legal procedure on
the part of the head of the department
Il informed him that while one of the
mainstays of the Constitution is the guar
antee of the freedom of speech, the fact re-
manned that government clerks had been
dismissed from their positions in this city
for awaiting themselves of this constftu-
tional right, and that while they had sub
sequently sought restitution In the courts
they had not been reinstated. 1 further
informed him that under the provision Of
the statute granting annual and sick leave
to the clerical forces in the executive de-
partments in this city did not think that
1t bestowed upon the heads of the depart
ment a discretionary power to say that
clerk should have but ten days sick leave
by reason of past absences any more than
1t gave the heads Of the departments the
could have but one day sick leave per an
mum; that II the department heads had the
legal right to limit this time to ten days
they had the corresponding right to declare
Tor one day, or any NUMBER or DAYS.
days at ALL
This exercise Of discretionary power Is
clearly against the intention Of Congress in
the passage of the act in question. and it
is a fundamental rule of the law that stat
utes shall be strictly construed, and a strict
construction of the statute gives the cler-
ical forces of this city in the executive de-
partments thirty days annual sick leave
If this limitation is considered excessive by
the heads of the departments, it is the duty
of Congress to curtail It to ANY number Of
days Congress sees fit to grant by express
statutory Limitation, and until that limita-
ton was made the statute should be let
alone.
II was also informed by the clerk in his
department the thirty-day limitation of sick
leave had been cut to ten to all clerks who
did not come under the rule which denied
them sick leave at all; in other words, the
head of the department had construed the
law to read ten instead Of thirty days.
In the first instance the sick leave had
been officially declared not to exist for Ger
tain Of the force at all.
II informed the clerk that clearly Con-
gress had no intention. from the statute, of
giving the executive heads this sweeping
discretionary power, but that I saw no
remedy for him or his fellow clerks, as the
executive heads were in the position to do
as they please. and the clerical forces were
obliged to take what Is given them; that the
former were above being reached except by
Congress.
IT consider these facts to constitute re-
narkable anomaly in the administration of
the affairs OF our government as applied to
the executive departments, but It is direct
ly In line with the tendency of the day, as
Is illustrated by the feeling Of unrest and
resentment in both branches OF Congress
by reason of what is now known as execu-
two interference
This clerks story of executive action
goes to the very root Of all the present dis
cussion in the Senate and the House. and
the resultant feeling of alarm on the part
of the Congress fas to the usurpation of
functions which do not belong to the exec
utive. and well 1T may. If heads of depart
ments deal as they may individually please
with statutory provisions affecting the
clerical forces, is 1t q matter of wonder
that senators and representatives upon the
floor of their respective bodies deliver
speeches of alarm as to the ultimate out
come of such a tendency?
1.-THE clerks. individually or as a body
have no redress, but the Congress has not
as yet been entirely shorn OF its constt-
tutiona1 prerogatives. This simple story
of the clerk in question goes to the very
vitals of one of the gravest constitutional
questions of this or OF any other day. and
the time cannot be very far distant when
II will behooye Congress to take cognizance
thereof. for sooner or later the tendency Of
executive transcendency Of power will
spread In other directions AS in the past
great movements have been precipitated by
comparatively small occurrences. 1T cannot
be doubted that this great question of the
exercise of legitimate constitutional func-
lions will arise in an acute form, and the
earlier it arrives the better