Evening star., 1953-10-26

~ Z " W
weigh heavily Joseph YOUNG
with the courts when their ver-
diets are handed down.
The situation stems from the
Justice Departments firing of
veterans in jobs that are in eX-
cepted Schedule A. The Depart
ment contends that. since these
veterans are not under civil
service. they are not entitled
to the provisions of the Vet
erans'1s Preference Act, which
provide that veterans are en-
titled to written charges, a 30
day notice of dismissal and full
appeal rights before the Civil
Service Commission.
In contrast, the commission
is expected to rule that all vet
Grams in Government Except
the handful who are Presiden-
tial appointees) are entitled to
the job protection rights of the
Veterans Preference Act.
csc officials disclose their
view that no veteran in Govern
ment would be safe if the JUS
tice Departments contention is
upheld. They declare such an
Interpretation would be an in
vitation to other agencies to re-
move veteran from under civil
service, place him in an excepted
job and then fire him. Conse-
gently, all veterans have a stake
in the issue, they declare.
Justice officials have agreed
to let the courts settle the issue.
AS result, a most unusual sit
uation has arisen in which the
Justice Department will be on
one side of the legal fence, while
the csc will be on the other.
Also heading for a showdown
in Federal courts within the next
few weeks is the test case to
determine whether employees in
excepted jobs, who previously
had status, can be fired sum-
marily without regard to civil
service job protection rights.
The Justice Department has
held, in dismissing one of it's
attorneys, that these employees
lost their civil service rights once
they took excepted jobs. The
commission takes the opposite
view. AS in the veterans situa-
ton. it holds that an adverse
ruling would jeopardize the jobs
of all cfvn service employees, who
could be transferred too except
ed Jobs and then fired.
N. II k*
NAVY-The Navy Department
has refused to give most of it's
employees in New York City time
off to vote in the forthcoming
mayoralty election. The Navy
said most employees will have
enough time to vote before or
after work. Only in cases where
the polls open or close less than
two hours before or after an
employees workday will he be
given time off.
The employees are protesting
the action, contending that they
are entitled to the right to have
time off during the day to vote.
AIR FORCE-The Air Force
Departments Civilian Personnel
Council, composed of the person.
mel directors of the Air Forces
various installations throughout
the country. is holding its an
nual conference here this week.
SPA-The Society for Person.
mel Administrator will open its
first official headquarters soon at
American University. The organ
AAdI1OIA WILL OSSOPy O11lNC oPdCN
at. one of the university build
ings at 45O1 Massachusetts ave-
nue. NV.
Until now, the SPA has not
had any official offices. The Or
ganization's officials consider the
acquisition of office space and
clerical help an important step
forward in the groups program
to assume more influential role
in determining the Governments
personnel policies.
X X X X
BOX SCORE-Here is the lat
est box score on the number of
political Schedule c job requests
from agencies the Civil Service
Commission has approved or re-
fused: Approved, 718: refused.
825. Of the 718 jobs transferred
to Schedule c, 1875 formerly were
Under the merit system 334 were