Evening star., 1927-08-13
ASK UNIFORM CODE
FOR LEAVE AWARDS
Government Clerks Declare
Regulations at Present En-
forced in JumbIed State.

A uniform code of annual and sick
leave regulations to apply to all Gov
ernment employees to supersede and
supplant the present jumbled and in
dividual regulations is being consid-
cred for use in the Government service
here.
Coming out of the activities of the
Chief Clerks Association, an organiza-
ton designed to promote uniformity
of rules in the departments, the pro-
posed uniform leave regulations will
need the authority of members of the
cabinet or some high official, perhaps
the Director of the Budget, to make
them apply uniformly to all depart
ments.
Much has been said about the de-
STABILITY of a job with Uncle Sam,
with it's inducement Of 80 days annual
leave and 80 days sick leave, if needed,
each year. Yet these leaves are
hedged about by so many regulations,
differing in each department, hat the
60-day allowance is seldom realized,
and in many departments few of the
employees get more than two weeks OF
annual leave.
Few Get Time Allotted.
Only in a minority of cases do the
employees of the Government in Wash
ington take their full 80 days annual
leave. They are needed to grease the
wheels of Government, to work out a
special job or to carry through some
big project which cannot be delayed,
even though the head Of the depart
ment, as in the case of Secretary
Davis of the Labor Department, be-
lieves a lengthy vacation to be the
best thing for the employees.
Two years ago a committee was ap-
pointed by the Chief Clerks Associa-
ton to look into the matter of drafting
uniform code for all departments to
govern sick and annual leave. SO
complex and manifold were the prob
lens to be surmounted, in view of the
regulations laid down by the heads of
the several departments. that the COM
mittee could not and did not bring in
report that would fit all cases.
Nothing was done with it, and the
matter has drifted along until the
present, when agitation for uniform
set of leave regulations is again be-
coming manifest. Chief clerks Of the
departments point out that the Gov
ernment service has been able to agree
on uniform set of travel regulations,
a subject fully as complex as that of
leave regulations, yet never has there
been agreement between the depart
ments as to uniform annual and sick
leave rules.
Sick Leave Rules Not Uniform.
Nor Is there uniformity on the
point that an application for sick leave
must be sworn to before a notary or
an officer authorized to administer
oaths. In some departments the en-
ploye is required to swear as to his
inability to work, while in others his
word is sufficient. And on the other
hand, by failure to adhere to this rule
there has been abuse of the one-day
sick leave privilege. Employees who
have used all their annual leave or
who do not care to take more annual
leave may telephone in to the chief
clerk of the bureau that they will not
be at work that day. In some depart
ments sick leave is cumulative, and in
this sense puts the employe more or
less on his honor. For slight indis-
position one may take a day off his
cumulat tive sick leave when it is
badly needed, as in the case of pro-
longed illness. This is the rule at the
Treasury Department.
The whole matter may be brought
to the attention of the Cabinet and
turned over to the budget director for
the drafting of a set of regulations
this Winter. Just now, at the height
of the vacation season, with many
hundreds of employees on annual leave,
it is being agitated.