Evening star., 1933-05-17
Voluntary Retirement.


Ths Senate Appropriations Com
mittee has won the gratitude Of Gov
anment personnel by its inclusion In
Sae independent Offices supply bill OF
. provision giving to Federal workers
Of thirty years service the privilege OF
voluntary retirement-with full retire
ment pay. less three and a half per
cent, until the statutory retirement age
h reached. That privilege has been
sought for many years by the Federal
workers. Some of these, with good
years still ahead Of them and enjoying
tlas advantages resulting from savings
for old age, have sought the privilege
of retiring and obtaining full benefits
OF retirement without waiting to reach
the statutory age Of seventy.
The fact that many Federal workers
may be forced out OF the service by
The economy provisions brought new
forces to bear in favor Of the voluntary
retirement privilege. The Independent
onices bill now provides that employees
who are retired by order Of the Presi-
dent may receive full retirement benefit.
f1ae Senate Committee merely added
the proviso that those who voluntarily
retire will also receive such benefits.
An immediate and practical advantage
b thereby gained. In the case Of two
employees for instance, one OF them may
wish to retire and the other may hope
TO continue In service until retirement
age is reached. Without the voluntary
retirement feature, the President might
have refined the employe who wished
to continue In service and have retained
the employe who wished to be retired.
As It Is now, those who take advantage
Of the voluntary retirement privilege will
automatically permit the retention Of
somebody else. It Is . question, Of
course, how many will wish to avail
themselves Of this permission. That
remains to be seen and depends largely
On the results Of the forthcoming reor-
While the Senate committee made
this welcome change In one provision
Affecting Government personnel, 1t is
extremely unfortunate that it did rot
follow tho recommendation Of It's sub
committee and eliminate entirely. in
stead Of modifying, another provision
relating to discharge Of personnel ac-
cording to State quotas. The modiflca-
ton In this section ordered by the COM
nittee provides that reductions of
personnel shall be made with regard to
both efficiency and apportionment Of
appointments by States, as provided by
Aw," instead, as passed by the House,
With regard to apportionment alone.
The net result Of this modification Is
that, efficiency and other things being
equal, the employe who comes from the
District Of Columbia or one Of the
States with an excess Of appointments
over its quota-determined on the basis
Of population-will be forced out, while
State that does not have its full quota,
will be retained.
The unwise and unfair discrimina-
tion here involved is obvious. Civil
service positions are open to all citi-
sens, regardless of place Of residence.
The District of Columbia and nearby
States have furnished the largest num-
Der Of appointees for the simple reason
that there were relatively few applicants
from more distant localities Now that
these appointees have been selected on
the basis Of merit and eligibility, it is
grossly unfair to penalize them in any
way because Of their geographical dis
tribution. Merit, and merit alone,
should rule in the appointments to the
civil service. and only merit should be
considered when mandatory separations
from the service are necessary.