Evening star., 1952-07-10

the Foreign Reserve Board, Bud
get Bureau director. Civil Service
Commission chairman, Secretary
of Defense and a presidential
appointed member who has not
yet been named.
The idea behind the study Is to
See if and how benefits for present
Federal employees and their fami-
|lies-both in annuities and sur
vivorship insurance-can be in
|creased without putting an undue
strain on the present civil service
retirement system. Also. the mat
ter of equitable annuity ADJUST
lments for those employees already
retired will be studied.
One of the main things to be
considered will be the possibility
of supplementing the civil service
retirement system with social Sc
curity. Although the civil service
system provides greater retirement
benefits for career employees who
have worked many years for Gov
ernment, social security benefits
are higher for the short-term
employe. Also, social security pro-
vides better survivorship insur-
Iance benefits for younger employees
and their families.
Added to this is the fact that
Federal career employees pay 6
per cent of their salaries for their
retirement and survivorship bene-
fits, while those under social Sc
curity pay only Ia per cent. Still
another factor is that nearly l
million Federal temporary indef-
Unite workers are now under
social security.
There is no easy solution to
the problem and the board has
Its job cut out for it. Most en-
ployes don't want to see the civil
service retirement system lose its
identity or independence. yet they
would Nike at least the maximum
benefits provided by social security
whenever 1t tops civil service re-
tirement benefits.
The answer may be that the
Civil Service retirement system
would retain its independence and
have its benefits supplemented
by social security whenever nee
essary. Whether this can be done
without additional cost to Fed
eral workers remains to be seen.
COMMISSION-Lawson Meyer.
the. executive director of the Civil
Service Commission, Is retiring.
Mr.. Meyer. who is SO, said he was
leaving for reasons of health.
AS the commissions top staff
official for 10 years. Mr.. Meyer
was highly regarded in Federal
personnel circles and in Congress.
Chairman Robert Ramspeck yes
terday paid him the following
tribute: mo man ever. con-
tributed more to the building Of
the career system in Government
than Mr.. Meyer has"
A native Of South Carolina, Mr..
Meyer entered the Government
nearly 38 years ago as a clerk
at 5000 a year. The job from
which he is retiring pays an an
nual salary of $14,800. AS the
commissions chief executive di-
rector, Mr.. Meyer became perhaps
the best known career official in
the Federal personnel field.
Joseph Winslow, the commits
sion's assistant executive director.
is expected to be appointed to Mr..
Meyers job.
STOP-WATCH BAN - In its
final few hours, the Senate killed
the rider adopted by its Appro-
lpriations Committee that would
have banned the use Of stop
watches and other time-meaSur-
ling devices in Defense Department
installations to evaluate the work
Iof civilian employees.
Senator Flanders, Republican.
Eof Vermont, raised a point Of or
der against the amendment when
lit came up for. action on the Sen
late floor as part of the 1858 De-
Ifense Department appropriations
bill. Senator Flanders said the