The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-09-18
FORM BASE
FOR D. c.
WAGE:
Personnel Redistribution
Board invites Criticism
and Suggestions.

I
Pay schedules for the field serv-
dee employees of the Federal Gov
eminent those outside of the
District Of Columbia go out to
the departments today from the
Personnel Classification Board.
BASIS Of Pay Structure.
They are the basis from which,
in the next two months, viii be
built q structure Of salaries and
class specifications in which the
success or failure Of the present at
tempt to establish the principle Of
"equal pay for equal work" in the
government departments win be
written.
All OF the Government employees
an the District have heavy equity
IN these schedules, for they con-
tain class specifications which ulti-
mately viii be co-ordinated with
the specifications for similar work
ia the local departments.
The administrative, fiscal and
clerical service; the custodiaI, pro-
fessi0nal, and NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. serv-
ices - which comprise all Of the
District employees and so per cent
of those in the field-wiIls have .
single group of ciass speclficati
written within the next eight
months.
Criticism Invited.
Therefore the pay schedules and
class specifications now completed
for the field service are Of the high
est Significance to every Govern
ment worker in the city, for they
represent the current trend OF
thought in the personnel classified
ton board Of what these definitions
should be. They are presented to
the departments, however, in a
tentative way. The board does not
believe they are final draft, aud
IN ita letter of transmittal speci1t-
calIy invites suggestive and criti-
cism.
ssThey are a mark for the de-
matrimonial officials to shoot at, !"
SAYS chairman Bailey of the Board.
ssThey are not perfect; they have
been written under pressure Of
time. The officials will have until
October Is to send in their sug-
gestio-ls and proposed revisions.
We expect a good many of them. !"
The Perso mel Classification
Board has created four distinct
field services of work-the house
keeping, inspecting and Investigate
ing. criminal detection, and nursery
services. These, however, comprise
only twenty per cent of the total
of field service workers, the others
being in the four main divisions of
work already outlined. The char
acteristic field service work is
found in such divisions as Gus:
toms, immigration, judicial, Indian
reservation. and lighthouse groups
which the board has fixed.
Begin ID. C. Classifications.
The writing of class specifications
for the District Of Columbia was
begun by the board employees yes
terday. They viii be completed
within two months, it Is estimated
and then there will be a compare
tive analysis of them in the work
of making them identical will
those established for the field
service.
That these classifications can bS
: put into effect during the fisca
year of 1924-25, despite the fac
that the departmental estimates ar.
being written on the basis Of tn,
tentative ALLEGATIONS for the Dis
trIct workers already completed, Il
the expectation of members of tn
personnel board. Before next May
IT is anticipated that the clas
specifications and the ALLEGATION o
District employees to them WIFI hav
bean COMPLETED. Two months fE,ei
will remain before the new. fisca
year opens and all necessary re
adjustments can be made.
In effect this means that TIL
lump-sum appropriations made b!
Congress on the basis of the de
detrimental estimates will be suffl
cient to pay for the classification
of District employees that viii b
worked out during the next six o
eight months. Whatever increase
OF salaries are entailed by the fina
alloca tons on the basis of elias
specifications will he offset by tn
decreases. it is believed.
All up In The Air."
The whole question of what RI
classif' cation will mean to the Coy
eminent employees in the way {
pay is now literally "up in the air.
II lis the general verdict that tn
tentative ALLEGATIONS for the Di
trict workers sent to the Bulge
Bureau by the departments mea
slight increases for virtually a
the workers
In the more important work [