Evening star., 1936-06-06
5-DAY WEEK PLAN
FOR j. S. WORKERS
BANNED BY M'CARL
Decision Made for W. P. A.
as Daylight Saving Hours
Are Fixed.
NEW SCHEDULE GOES
INTO EFFECT MONDAY
Employees to Go on Jobs Each Day
at s AM. and Quit l Hour
Earlier.

The working day for more than
1000 Works Progress Administration
employees in this city will start ore
hour earlier each day, beginning Mon-
day morning. This was ordered last
night by Harry L. Hopkins, w P. A.
administrator, following receipt of a
decision by Controller General Nc
Carl, which rejected the proposed
f1ve-day week for these workers.
The McCarl ruling is of wide inter-
est, as It ends efforts made from time
to time to set up five-day week in
the Government as whole, without
new legislation.
The new w. P. A hours will be 8
am to pm, instead of am. to S
pm, daily and 8 am. to IL noon Sat-
urday, instead of 9 am. to l pm.
This does not lengthen the work week.
The new schedule will be in effect
from June until September 26.
McCarl, in denying the request for
f1ve-day week declared an act Of
Congress dated March 8, 1881, pro-
vided for a four-hour Saturday for all
Government employees in Washington.
Poll Sought 5-Day Week.
The five-day week had been re-
queSted following a poll which showed
an overwhelming majority of w. P.
A. employees are in favor of the change.
The poll, informal in character, was
taken by Ross Caldwell, administrative
assistant in charge of personnel. They
had requested that the Saturday
hours, if necessary be added to regular
weekday working time.
The act of 1881, enacted under
the Hoover administration, provides
that four hours work, exclusive of
luncheon time, shall constitute a days
work on Saturdays throughout the
year in the Government service. The
act, which established the five-and-
a-half-day week, provides for the same
pay for Saturday half day as on other
days when full time is worked.
Discretionary Power Limited.
The only exemption allowed under
the law, it was reported, IS the dis
cretionary power given department
heads or the heads of independent
establishments to excuse workers
whose services can be spared This
Is done only few days during the
course of a year, usually during the
Summer in excessively warm periods
All classes Of Government employees
are affected by the act of 1881,
whether on a per diem basis or not, it
was explained. Since the law declares
four hours of work on Saturdays
mandatory, the controller held in
effect that Hopkins does not have
sufficient emergency to undo it for
the benefit of his own personnel.
The controller general had never
before been asked to rule on the
question. When the Saturday nalf-
holiday law was enacted, an examina-
tior Of the District code revealed that
for many years Saturday half
holiday was an established law in
the District.
The request for the W P. A. FIVE
day week was submitted to the con-
trollerS Office about two weeks ago
by Administrator Hopkins, largely as
a result Of the virtually unanimous
opinions expressed in the poll. The
request covered a working week of
exactly the same number of working
hours as the present half
day-week.
Leave Decision Made.
The W.PA. decision was one of two
covering Federal employment that
came from the Controller General
yesterday. The first, rendered to the
Civil Service Commission, settle a
number of problems growing out Of
the sick and annual leave laws and
paved the way for PRONUNCIATION by
President Roosevelt of uniform regula-
lions for their application.
In this decision, McCarl reiterated
point made in an earlier ruling to
the Government Printing Office-that
sick leave, except in emergencies, can
not be granted in advance of being
earned, and that this accumulation
can be made only at the rate of a
day and quarter a month. This
means that the cumulative leave now
available to any employed is tx days
dating from January l. In emer-
gencies, however, additional leave is
available up to 80 days, this provision
giving administrative officers a lee
way designed to head off any hard
ship that might otherwise be worked
in cases of need.
The same ruling also set up certain
classes, who are barred from leave
privileges: all W.P.A. workers, except
those on clerical or administrative
duties and certain per diem, per hour
and contractural employees.