jurisdiction: US

text: b"September 30, 2002\n\nSUZANNE F. MEDVIDOVICH\nSENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, HUMAN RESOURCES\n\nDEWITT O. HARRIS\nVICE PRESIDENT, EMPLOYEE RESOURCE MANAGEMENT\n\nDANNY C. JACKSON\nVICE PRESIDENT, GREAT LAKES AREA OPERATIONS\n\nSUBJECT: \t Audit Report \xe2\x80\x93 Associate Supervisor Program in the\n Great Lakes Area (Report Number LH-AR-02-005)\n\nThis report presents the results of our review of the Associate Supervisor Program\n(Project Number 01JA004LB000). This audit was self-initiated and conducted in the\nseven districts of the Great Lakes Area.\n\nThe audit revealed that while the Postal Service in the Great Lakes Area was successful\nin training over 900 employees through the Associate Supervisor Program as of\nJune 2001, program performance had not been fully assessed to determine its impact\non labor-management relations and Postal Service operations. Specifically, we found\nthat procedures for screening applications and selecting program candidates were\nadequate, however, they were not always followed. In addition, while eligibility\nrequirements were applied to all applicants, the requirements used to determine\nprogram suitability were not equitably applied to all applicants. Also, Great Lakes Area\nmanagement had not maximized the benefits of the Associate Supervisor Program by\ndetermining the appropriate number of executive and administrative schedule level\n15 positions needed; and by placing graduates, when and where they were needed.\nWe also were unable to determine the cost of the Associate Supervisor Program\nbecause Postal Service management did not have a budget nor did they track\nexpenditures for the program. Finally, we found that oversight had not been provided to\nensure the program was implemented efficiently, effectively, and properly.\n\nThe report included nine recommendations to help Postal Service management improve\nthe Associate Supervisor Program. Management agreed with 7 of the 9 findings and\nrecommendations, and the actions taken and planned should correct the issues\nidentified in this report. Management disagreed, however, with our recommendations to\nassess the impact of the Associate Supervisor Program on improving labor\xc2\xad\nmanagement relations and Postal Service operations, and to establish a budget and\n\x0ccost center to capture the Associate Supervisor Program expenditures Postal\nService-wide. The Office of Inspector General (OIG) considers recommendations 1 and\n8, as unresolved and plans to pursue them through the formal audit resolution process.\nManagement\xe2\x80\x99s comments and our evaluation of these comments are included in this\nreport.\n\nThe OIG considers recommendations 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, and 9 significant and, therefore,\nrequires OIG concurrence before closure. Consequently, the OIG requests written\nconfirmation when corrective actions are completed. These recommendations should\nnot be closed in the follow-up tracking system until the OIG provides written\nconfirmation that the recommendations can be closed. We appreciate the cooperation\nand courtesies provided by your staff during the audit. If you have any questions or\nneed additional information, please contact Chris Nicoloff, director, Labor Management,\nat (214) 775-9100, or me at (703) 248-2300.\n\n\n\nB. Wayne Goleski\nAssistant Inspector General\n for Core Operations\n\nAttachment\n\ncc: Susan M. Duchek\n\x0cAssociate Supervisor Program LH-AR-02-005\n in the Great Lakes Area\n\n\n TABLE OF CONTENTS\n\n Executive Summary i\n\n Part I\n\n Introduction 1\n\n Background 1\n\n Objective, Scope, and Methodology 2\n\n Prior Audit Coverage 2\n\n\n Part II\n\n Audit Results 4\n\n\n Management and Oversight of Program Needs Improvement 4\n\n Program Impact Not Fully Assessed 4\n\n Recommendation 5\n\n Management\xe2\x80\x99s Comments 6\n\n Evaluation of Management\xe2\x80\x99s Comments 7\n\n\n Candidate Selection Procedures Not Followed 7\n\n Recommendations 9\n\n Management\xe2\x80\x99s Comments 9\n\n Evaluation of Management\xe2\x80\x99s Comments 9\n\n\n Eligibility Requirements Applied to All, Suitability 10\n\n Requirements Were Not\n\n Recommendation 11\n\n Management\xe2\x80\x99s Comments 11\n\n Evaluation of Management\xe2\x80\x99s Comments 12\n\n\n Placement of Graduates Not Maximized 12\n\n Corrective Actions Taken 13\n\n Recommendation 14\n\n Management\xe2\x80\x99s Comments 14\n\n Evaluation of Management\xe2\x80\x99s Comments 14\n\n\n Program Cost Not Determined 14\n\n Recommendation 15\n\n Management\xe2\x80\x99s Comments 15\n\n Evaluation of Management\xe2\x80\x99s Comments 15\n\n\n\n\n\n Restricted Information\n\x0cAssociate Supervisor Program LH-AR-02-005\n in the Great Lakes Area\n\n\n Program Oversight Improvements Needed\n 16\n\n Recommendation\n 17\n\n Management\xe2\x80\x99s Comments\n 17\n\n Evaluation of Management\xe2\x80\x99s Comments\n 18\n\n Appendix A. Scope and Methodology\n 19\n\n Appendix B. Comparison of the Number of Executive and \n 21\n\n Administrative Schedule Level 15 Authorized Positions to \n\n the Number of Associate Supervisor Graduates as of \n\n June 2001\n\n Appendix C. Comparison of Nongraduate and Graduate Promotions to 22\n\n Executive and Administrative Schedule Level 16 Positions\n\n December 1996 Through June 2001\n\n Appendix D. Management\xe2\x80\x99s Comments 23\n\n\n\n\n\n Restricted Information\n\x0cAssociate Supervisor Program LH-AR-02-005\n in the Great Lakes Area\n\n\n EXECUTIVE SUMMARY\n Introduction This report presents the results of our self-initiated audit of\n the Postal Service\xe2\x80\x99s management of the Associate\n Supervisor Program in the Great Lakes Area. The program\n was established in response to a recommendation made by\n the General Accounting Office in September 1994, \xe2\x80\x9cthat the\n Service select and train supervisors who could serve as\n facilitators/counselors and who would have the skills,\n experience, and interest to treat employees with respect\n and dignity, positively motivate employees, recognize and\n reward them for good work, promote teamwork, and deal\n effectively with poor performers.\xe2\x80\x9d\n\n Results in Brief The audit revealed that as of June 2001 the Great Lakes\n Area trained over 900 employees through the Associate\n Supervisor Program. We also found that some\n assessments of program performance had been done; and\n that the procedures for screening applications to the\n program were adequate. In addition, we determined that\n program eligibility requirements were objective.\n\n We determined, however, that program performance had\n not been fully assessed to determine its impact on labor\xc2\xad\n management relations and Postal Service operations. In\n addition, we found that improvements or full implementation\n of procedures were needed in the areas of applicant\n screening and candidate selection, suitability requirements,\n placement of graduates, budgeting and tracking of costs,\n and program oversight.\n\n During the course of our audit, Postal Service management\n took several actions to correct some of the conditions we\n found in the area of graduate placement. We believe further\n corrective actions will help the Postal Service to meet the\n program\xe2\x80\x99s primary objective to improve labor-management\n relations and Postal Service operations. In addition,\n improvements to the program will help the Postal Service\n attract, select, and train applicants who best meet the\n requirements of the associate supervisor position.\n\n Summary of We made nine recommendations to Postal Service\n Recommendations management to improve the Associate Supervisor Program.\n Recommendations include an assessment of the impact\n the program has had on improving labor-management\n relations and Postal Service operations, additional program\n\n i\n Restricted Information\n\x0cAssociate Supervisor Program LH-AR-02-005\n in the Great Lakes Area\n\n\n oversight, and a reassessment of the suitability\n requirements to ensure they are consistently and equally\n applied to all applicants. We also recommended\n improvements to the screening and selection process, the\n placement of graduates, and the establishment of a budget\n and cost center to capture program expenditures, Postal\n Service-wide.\n\n Summary of Management agreed with our recommendations to ensure\n Management\xe2\x80\x99s review committee members and district coordinators receive\n Comments appropriate training to increase their knowledge/awareness\n of program responsibilities and that district coordinators\n were implementing oversight controls of program activities.\n They also agreed to determine the cause for high turnover\n in the district coordinator position and assess the workload\n of district coordinators. Management further agreed to\n reassess the suitability requirements in the Associate\n Supervisor Program Guide and the Employee and Labor\n Handbook, and ensure that the manuals were in alignment\n with one another. They also agreed to ensure that the\n appropriate number of executive and administrative level 15\n and 16 positions were determined using Organizational\n Management Staffing System reports. In addition,\n management\xe2\x80\x99s comments clarified their agreement that the\n area office must have a certain level of oversight\n responsibility for the district programs.\n\n Management disagreed, however, with our\n recommendations to assess the impact of the Associate\n Supervisor Program on improving labor-management\n relations and Postal Service operations, and to establish a\n budget and cost center to capture the Associate Supervisor\n Program expenditures, Postal Service-wide. Management\xe2\x80\x99s\n comments, in their entirety, are included in Appendix D of\n this report.\n\n Overall Evaluation of Management\xe2\x80\x99s comments to recommendations 2 through 7,\n Management\xe2\x80\x99s and 9 were responsive and the actions taken and planned\n Comments should correct the issues identified in this report.\n Management\xe2\x80\x99s response to recommendations 1 and 8 were\n not responsive and did not meet the full intent of our\n recommendations to assess the impact of the Associate\n Supervisor Program on labor-management relations; and\n establish a budget and cost center to capture the Associate\n Supervisor Program expenditures Postal Service-wide,\n respectively. The Office of Inspector General considers\n\n ii\n Restricted Information\n\x0cAssociate Supervisor Program LH-AR-02-005\n in the Great Lakes Area\n\n\n recommendations 1 and 8 unresolved and plans to pursue\n them through the formal audit resolution process.\n\n\n\n\n iii\n Restricted Information\n\x0cAssociate Supervisor Program LH-AR-02-005\n in the Great Lakes Area\n\n\n INTRODUCTION\n Background In a 1994 General Accounting Office (GAO) report,1 the\n Postal Service\xe2\x80\x99s corporate culture was characterized as a\n highly structured system of work rules and highly autocratic\n management styles. The GAO report disclosed the\n presence of policies, practices, and values that needed to\n be changed in an effort to encourage, facilitate, and reward\n more productive labor-management relations at the Postal\n Service. To address this condition, the GAO recommended\n that the Postal Service select and train supervisors who\n could serve as facilitators/counselors, and who would have\n the skills, experience, and interest to:\n\n \xe2\x80\xa2 Treat employees with respect and dignity.\n \xe2\x80\xa2 Positively motivate employees.\n \xe2\x80\xa2 Recognize and reward employees for good work.\n \xe2\x80\xa2 Promote teamwork.\n \xe2\x80\xa2 Deal effectively with poor performers.\n\n In response to this recommendation, the Postal Service\n established the Associate Supervisor Program in 1995 to\n develop qualified applicants for initial level supervisory\n vacancies and to ensure that prospective supervisors were\n provided with the technical, administrative, and leadership\n skills necessary to be effective in all aspects of a first line\n supervisory job. The overall goal of the program was to\n help the Postal Service improve labor-management\n relations and Postal Service operations.2\n\n The Associate Supervisor Program was comprised of a\n comprehensive selection process followed by an in-depth\n 16-week training program. Trained coordinators monitored\n the program from start to finish and worked closely with\n district human resources personnel to administer it.\n Applicants were selected based on their ability to meet\n critical job requirements, as demonstrated through an\n examination, a review of applications, and structured\n interviews. At the conclusion of the program, graduates\n were placed directly into an associate supervisor position,\n executive and administrative schedule level 15, within\n customer services or distribution operations. Opportunities\n\n1\n U.S. Postal Service: Labor\xe2\x80\x93Management Problems Persist on the Workroom Floor (GAO/GGD-94-201A,\nSeptember 1994).\n2\n The term Postal Service operations as used here means the reduction in overtime costs and wages paid to\ntemporary supervisors referred to as 204B supervisors.\n\n 1\n Restricted Information\n\x0cAssociate Supervisor Program LH-AR-02-005\n in the Great Lakes Area\n\n\n also existed for graduates to be promoted to the executive\n and administrative schedule level 16 supervisor positions.\n\n As of September 2001, more than 10,000 employees had\n graduated from the Associate Supervisor Program Postal\n Service-wide. Approximately 57.9 percent of the graduates\n (5,849) were promoted to the level 16, supervisor position,\n and 29.4 percent (2,968) were in associate supervisor, level\n 15 positions. Another 6.3 percent (637) of the graduates\n went back to a craft position, and the remaining 6.4 percent\n (651) left the Postal Service.\n\n Objective, Scope, and Our overall objective was to determine whether the Postal\n Methodology Service was effectively managing the Associate Supervisor\n Program in the Great Lakes Area. We judgmentally\n selected the Great Lakes Area after completion of our\n survey work in one of its seven districts3 (Chicago). To\n accomplish our objective we assessed program\n administration, as well as the applicant screening and\n candidate selection process, and graduate placement. We\n also attempted to determine the program costs. Our scope\n and methodology are discussed in Appendix A.\n\n This audit was conducted from April 2001 through\n September 2002 in accordance with generally accepted\n government auditing standards and included such tests of\n internal controls as were considered necessary under the\n circumstances. Specifically, we reviewed controls designed\n to identify the applicants best suited for the Associate\n Supervisor Program, as well as the controls in place to\n monitor and track program costs. We discussed our\n conclusions and observations with appropriate management\n officials and included their comments, where appropriate.\n\n Prior Audit Coverage U.S Postal Service: Labor-Management Problems\n Persist on the Workroom Floor, (GAO/GGD-94-201A,\n September 1994). This report showed the labor\xc2\xad\n management conflict that existed on the workroom floor of\n mail processing and delivery operations; and past and\n current efforts by the Postal Service, employee unions, and\n management associations to improve relations and end the\n conflict. The GAO reported the presence of policies,\n practices, and values that needed to be changed in an effort\n to encourage, facilitate, and reward more productive\n3\n The Postal Service geographic areas of operation were restructured in September 2001, and the number\nof districts in the Great Lakes Area was increased from seven to nine districts.\n\n 2\n Restricted Information\n\x0cAssociate Supervisor Program LH-AR-02-005\n in the Great Lakes Area\n\n\n relations at the Postal Service. To address this condition,\n the GAO recommended that the Postal Service select and\n train supervisors who could serve as facilitators/counselors,\n and who would have the skills, experience, and interest to\n improve labor-management relations and facility operations.\n\n U.S. Postal Service: Little Progress Made in Addressing\n Persistent Labor-Management Problems (GAO/GGD-98-1,\n October 1997). This report followed up on the Postal\n Service\xe2\x80\x99s response to the recommendations made in the\n GAO\xe2\x80\x99s 1994 report. The report found that little progress had\n been made in improving the persistent labor-management\n problems. As a result of the 1994 report, the Postal Service\n reported to the GAO that one of its initiatives was the\n establishment of the Associate Supervisor Program. The\n GAO did not evaluate the program at that time because of\n its recent implementation in 1995. No recommendations\n were made in this report.\n\n\n\n\n 3\n Restricted Information\n\x0cAssociate Supervisor Program LH-AR-02-005\n in the Great Lakes Area\n\n\n AUDIT RESULTS\n Management and The audit revealed that while the Postal Service in the Great\n Oversight of Program Lakes Area was successful in training over 900 employees\n Needs Improvement as of June 2001, through the Associate Supervisor Program,\n the program had not been fully assessed to determine its\n impact on labor-management relations and Postal Service\n operations. In addition, we identified the following program\n areas in need of improvement:\n\n \xe2\x80\xa2 Screening and selection process\n \xe2\x80\xa2 Suitability requirements\n \xe2\x80\xa2 Placement of graduates\n \xe2\x80\xa2 Budgeting and tracking costs\n \xe2\x80\xa2 Oversight\n\n Program Impact Not While headquarters had taken some steps to assess the\n Fully Assessed program\xe2\x80\x99s effectiveness, neither headquarters nor Great\n Lakes Area management had fully assessed the impact of\n the Associate Supervisor Program on labor-management\n relations and Postal Service operations. With regard to\n assessment steps taken, we found that in fiscal year\n (FY) 2001, the headquarters, Human Resources office\n contracted with a vendor to conduct a mail survey of\n managers and Associate Supervisor Program graduates that\n included an assessment of new associate supervisors\xe2\x80\x99 skills.\n As a result of the survey, the vendor reported that over\n 70 percent of the graduates met or exceeded the managers\xe2\x80\x99\n expectations for beginning supervisors. In addition, to\n determine if the program was providing a sufficient number\n of graduates to meet the needs of the organization, program\n officials tracked the progress of participants in the program\n to determine how many successfully completed the program\n and where the graduates were ultimately placed.\n\n In response to a 1997 GAO report4 on the continued\n existence of labor-management problems, Postal Service\n management committed to additional assessment\n measures, however, they did not follow through on those\n commitments. Specifically, the Postal Service advised GAO\n of plans to evaluate the Associate Supervisor Program by\n surveying managers to determine the quality of job\n performance for associate supervisors compared to\n supervisors who had not participated in the program. The\n4\n U.S. Postal Service: Little Progress Made in Addressing Persistent Labor-Management Problems\n(GAO/GGD-98-1, October 1997).\n\n 4\n Restricted Information\n\x0cAssociate Supervisor Program LH-AR-02-005\n in the Great Lakes Area\n\n\n Postal Service had also planned to ask managers to\n evaluate associate supervisors\xe2\x80\x99 communication and\n leadership skills as well as their ability to promote and\n maintain a safe working environment for employees. To\n determine the impact the Associate Supervisor Program has\n had on the overall performance of facilities, the Postal\n Service also advised the GAO it planned to compare\n External First-Class Measurement System scores5 before\n and after the placement of associate supervisors in facilities.\n\n Associate Supervisor Program officials in headquarters told\n us they were not aware of the Postal Service\xe2\x80\x99s commitment\n to evaluate the Associate Supervisor Program as reported in\n GAO\xe2\x80\x99s 1997 report.\n\n We believe the Postal Service should follow through with its\n plans as outlined in their response to GAO. Also, to fully\n assess the impact of the Associate Supervisor Program, we\n believe that an assessment of workplace climate indicators6\n should be included in this evaluation. The Postal Service\xe2\x80\x99s\n Threat Assessment Team Guide, Publication 108, defines\n these indicators and their relevance when making\n determinations on workplace climate. Using information\n from these evaluations, Postal Service officials should be\n able to better assess whether the program has achieved its\n objective to positively impact labor-management relations\n and Postal Service operations.\n\n Recommendation\t We recommend the senior vice president, Human\n Resources:\n\n 1.\t Assess the impact of the Associate Supervisor\n Program on improving labor-management relations\n and Postal Service operations. This assessment\n should include:\n\n\n\n\n5\n External First-Class Measurement is an external measurement system of collection box to mailbox delivery\nperformance. It is not a system-wide measurement of all First-Class Mail performance; instead it\ncontinuously tests a panel of 465 ZIP Code areas selected on the basis of geographic and volume density\nfrom which 90 percent of First-Class volume originates and 80 percent destinates.\n6\n Among these indicators are grievances, Equal Employment Opportunity complaints, referrals to the\nEmployee Assistance Program, and Voice of the Employee surveys.\n\n 5\n Restricted Information\n\x0cAssociate Supervisor Program LH-AR-02-005\n in the Great Lakes Area\n\n\n\n \xe2\x80\xa2\t A survey of managers to compare the quality of\n job performance of associate supervisors to\n supervisors who had not participated in the\n program.\n\n \xe2\x80\xa2\t An evaluation of associate supervisors\xe2\x80\x99\n communication and leadership skills as well as\n their ability to promote and maintain a safe\n working environment for employees.\n\n \xe2\x80\xa2\t A comparison of facility performance scores and\n workplace climate indicators before and after the\n placement of associate supervisors.\n\n Management\xe2\x80\x99s Management disagreed with the finding and\n Comments recommendation and stated the recommendation was based\n on the belief that the primary objective of the Associate\n Supervisor Program was to improve labor-management\n relations. They stated that the primary objective was to\n attract, select, and train the best possible candidates for\n first-line supervisory positions; and that the expected\n benefits, among other things, included a safer work\n environment and improved labor-management relations and\n Postal Service operations. They said the report misstated\n the program\xe2\x80\x99s objective and requested that we change it.\n\n Management also stated the improved labor-management\n relations was only one component of the program and there\n were many variables that could impact the workplace\n climate. They said the labor-management component could\n not be used to adequately assess a change in that climate.\n Management further stated that in June 2000 they surveyed\n Associate Supervisor Program participants and their\n managers; and more recently (April 4, 2002) implemented\n the Universal Associate Supervisor Program that would fill\n all supervisor vacancies thus discontinuing the initial level\n supervisor system. They said that due to these events it\n was not necessary to compare associate supervisors to\n supervisors who have not participated in the program.\n\n Management also stated they will continue their efforts to\n work with field Human Resources and Operations to\n improve the Associate Supervisor Program and identify\n future enhancements to the program.\n\n\n 6\n Restricted Information\n\x0cAssociate Supervisor Program LH-AR-02-005\n in the Great Lakes Area\n\n\n\n\n Evaluation of Management\xe2\x80\x99s planned actions are not responsive and do\n Management\xe2\x80\x99s not meet the intent of our recommendation. As stated in our\n Comments report, the Postal Service\xe2\x80\x99s development of the program was\n a direct result of the 1994 GAO recommendation to improve\n labor-management relations and Postal Service operations.\n We believe the objective to attract, select, and train the best\n possible candidates for first line supervisory positions, was a\n means to achieve program benefits (goal) of improving\n labor-management relations and operations.\n\n We disagree that because many variables can impact\n labor-management relations that an assessment cannot be\n done to determine the impact the program had on improving\n labor-management relations. We also disagree that it is not\n necessary to compare associate supervisors to supervisors\n who have not participated in the program. As stated in the\n report, an assessment is necessary to determine whether\n the program has achieved its goal to positively impact\n labor management relations. Also stated is that a significant\n amount of resources have been expended on this program\n without a proper and accurate accounting. Given the Postal\n Service\xe2\x80\x99s continued need to identify cost savings,\n management should make the effort to quantify the benefits\n of the program and to determine whether it is worth the\n continued investment of resources. The Office of Inspector\n General (OIG) considers this recommendation unresolved\n and plans to pursue it through the formal audit resolution\n process.\n\n Candidate Selection The procedures for screening Associate Supervisor Program\n Procedures Not applications and selecting program candidates,7 by review\n Followed committees8 and district coordinators, were adequate;\n however, they were not always followed. As a result, there\n may have been a lack of equity in the program in that all\n applicants9 may not have been held to the same standard\n and the best candidates may not have always been\n selected.\n\n\n\n7\n A candidate is an Associate Supervisor Program applicant who has been accepted into the training\nprogram, but has not yet graduated.\n8\n A review committee is an advisory panel of members or their designees whose purpose is to screen and\ninterview applicants, and select candidates for the associate supervisor, executive and administrative\nschedule level 15 position.\n9\n An applicant is an individual who has applied for the Associate Supervisor Program but has not yet been\naccepted.\n\n 7\n Restricted Information\n\x0cAssociate Supervisor Program LH-AR-02-005\n in the Great Lakes Area\n\n\n\n The Associate Supervisor Program screening and selection\n procedures required review committees to ensure that\n internal applicants met suitability requirements in the\n following areas:\n\n \xe2\x80\xa2 Supervisor evaluations\n \xe2\x80\xa2 Sick time/leave of absence\n \xe2\x80\xa2 Discipline\n \xe2\x80\xa2 Safety\n\n We found, however, that in five of the seven districts we\n reviewed, the committees deviated from the procedures\n when they processed applications and selected candidates\n for the program without having all of the information needed\n to determine their suitability. For example, 102 of the\n 333 application packages we reviewed in these districts did\n not contain information related to at least one of the\n suitability requirements.\n\n In addition, in three of the five districts, review committees\n did not keep records to support the decisions they made,\n including a register of eligible applicants and their scores.\n We also found that district coordinators did not maintain\n organized official candidate selection files making it difficult\n to locate pertinent information.\n\n The Associate Supervisor Program, Program Coordinator\xe2\x80\x99s\n Guide, assigned review committees the responsibility for\n screening and interviewing applicants, and selecting\n Associate Supervisor Program candidates. It further\n required that the district coordinator ensure that suitability\n information for each applicant was included in the\n application package.\n\n In response to questions about why procedures were not\n followed, we found that review committee members and\n district coordinators did not fully understand what their\n responsibilities were. We also learned there was a high\n turnover rate in the district coordinator position which may\n have affected the continuity of how the program was\n administered. For example, since the program\xe2\x80\x99s inception\n five of the seven districts changed their program\n\n\n\n\n 8\n Restricted Information\n\x0cAssociate Supervisor Program LH-AR-02-005\n in the Great Lakes Area\n\n\n\n coordinators at least once. Further, district coordinators\xe2\x80\x99\n stated that their workload may have precluded them from\n performing their Associate Supervisor Program\n responsibilities, which was a collateral duty.\n\n Recommendation\t We recommend the vice president, Great Lakes Area\n Operations:\n\n 2.\t Ensure review committee members and district\n coordinators receive the appropriate training to\n increase their knowledge/awareness of their program\n responsibilities.\n\n Management\xe2\x80\x99s Management agreed with the finding and recommendation.\n Comments They stated that each performance cluster will be required to\n certify that all current review committee members have been\n trained during the last year on the Associate Supervisor\n Program selection and review committee procedures.\n Additionally, they stated they would hold a meeting with\n Associate Supervisor Program coordinators and their\n training contacts to ensure they properly understand the\n Associate Supervisor Program, and to determine\n opportunities for improving the program. They said this\n would occur by November 30, 2002.\n\n Evaluation of Management\xe2\x80\x99s planned actions are responsive and meet the\n Management\xe2\x80\x99s intent of our recommendation.\n Comments\n\n Recommendations 3.\t Ensure the district coordinators implement oversight\n controls to ensure that review committee activities\n are conducted in accordance with program\n procedures.\n\n 4.\t Determine the cause for the high turnover rate in the\n district coordinator position and take the appropriate\n actions to ensure continuity in program\n administration.\n\n 5.\t Assess the workload of the district coordinators to\n ensure coordinators have sufficient time to perform\n their program responsibilities.\n\n\n\n\n 9\n Restricted Information\n\x0cAssociate Supervisor Program LH-AR-02-005\n in the Great Lakes Area\n\n\n\n Management\xe2\x80\x99s Management agreed with the findings and\n Comments recommendations. They stated that each performance\n cluster will designate an executive and administrative\n schedule level 17 or higher personnel services specialist\n fully knowledgeable of selection and evaluation procedures\n to chair the Associate Supervisor Program review\n committees, and serve as a district coordinator. They stated\n this would occur by November 30, 2002. Management also\n stated that the delegation of this personnel services\n specialist would also alleviate the turnover in the district\n coordinator position that was previously handled on an ad\n hoc basis and in addition to regular duties. They also stated\n that the manager, Personnel Services would be in a much\n better position to adjust the workload during the times that\n the Associate Supervisor Program committee is functioning,\n as opposed to the Operations managers, who had\n previously held the oversight responsibility.\n\n Evaluation of Management\xe2\x80\x99s planned actions are responsive and meet the\n Management\xe2\x80\x99s intent of our recommendation.\n Comments\n\n Eligibility We found that the eligibility requirements used to select\n Requirements Applied candidates for the Associate Supervisor Program were\n to All, Suitability applied to both internal and external applicants. These\n Requirements Were requirements included citizenship status and geographical\n Not area of consideration. In addition, the requirements were\n fairly consistent with other Postal Service criteria regarding\n . the hiring and selection of employees. We found, however,\n that some of the suitability requirements were applied to\n internal applicants only. As a result, some internal\n applicants were held to a higher standard and thus not\n treated equitably when they were disqualified from the\n program because of these requirements. For example, in\n one district we found five internal applicants were\n disqualified for not meeting one of the suitability\n requirements, which were not applied to external\n candidates. We believe this questions the equity of the\n program.\n\n The Employee and Labor Handbook (EL-312), Chapter 5,\n Suitability, states that the suitability screening process must\n be applied consistently to applicants who are likely to be\n selected for all positions, regardless of the type of\n appointment. It also states that suitability screening is an\n\n\n 10\n Restricted Information\n\x0cAssociate Supervisor Program LH-AR-02-005\n in the Great Lakes Area\n\n\n essential component of the hiring process for all applicants,\n from all recruitment sources including former employees.\n\n We found, however, that the Associate Supervisor Program,\n Program Coordinator\xe2\x80\x99s Guide and the Employee and Labor\n Handbook (EL-312), Chapter 75, Associate Supervisor\n Positions, did not require that the suitability requirements\n used to assess internal applicants, also be used for external\n applicants. One district official told us they had no reliable\n method of obtaining some of the suitability information for\n external applicants and, therefore, did not require it. A\n headquarters official told us she did not believe it was unfair\n to use different requirements for internal and external\n applicants because they were balanced in their approach.\n She believed background investigations and probationary\n periods for external applicants achieved the same purpose\n as the requirement from internal applicants for attendance,\n safety, and disciplinary records.\n\n We do not agree the internal and external suitability\n requirements are equivalent because internal applicants\n also receive a background investigation and meet a\n probationary time period at the start of their employment.\n\n Recommendation We recommend the vice president, Employee Resource\n Management:\n\n 6.\t Reassess the suitability requirements in the\n Associate Supervisor Program, Program\n Coordinator\xe2\x80\x99s Guide and the Employee and Labor\n Handbook, (EL-312) Chapter 75, to ensure they are\n aligned with the Employee and Labor Handbook,\n (EL-312), Chapter 5, particularly as it relates to the\n requirement that suitability determinations must be\n consistently and fairly applied to all applicants.\n\n Management\xe2\x80\x99s Management agreed with the finding and recommendation.\n Comments They stated they would review and align both manuals to\n ensure their consistency and fair application to all\n applicants. They stated the process would begin in\n October 2002 and be completed by January 1, 2003.\n\n Management disagreed with our conclusion and stated that\n internal applicants were not at a disadvantage compared to\n external applicants. They said that external applicants are\n required to pass an extensive suitability investigation\n\n 11\n Restricted Information\n\x0cAssociate Supervisor Program LH-AR-02-005\n in the Great Lakes Area\n\n\n conducted by the Office of Personnel Management, and\n they believe this provides a comparable set of standards as\n those applied to the career workforce. In addition, they said\n external applicants must meet a 6-month probationary\n period in order to be retained and that during that period,\n supervisors observe the new employee\xe2\x80\x99s behavior with the\n same Postal Service standard and expectancy that is\n applied to the career workforce.\n\n Evaluation of Management\xe2\x80\x99s planned actions are responsive and meet the\n Management\xe2\x80\x99s intent of our recommendation. However, we continue to\n Comments believe that internal and external suitability requirements are\n not equivalent because internal applicants also receive a\n background investigation and meet a probationary time\n period at the start of their employment.\n\n Placement of Great Lakes Area and district management had not\n Graduates Not determined the appropriate number of executive and\n Maximized administrative schedule level 15 positions needed; and had\n not placed all graduates when and where they were needed.\n As a result, the Postal Service may not be maximizing the\n opportunity for the program to improve labor-management\n relations and improve Postal Service operations. In\n addition, we found that promotions and selections of\n nongraduates to executive and administrative schedule\n level 16 positions resulted in missed opportunities for the\n Postal Service to realize a return on the training funds\n invested in the program and its graduates.\n\n We found a surplus of associate supervisor graduates in\n four districts, while associate supervisor vacancies existed in\n the remaining three districts. For example, as of June 2001,\n in the Chicago District, we found there were 42 more\n graduates than level 15 positions authorized. However, in\n the Detroit District there were 18 less graduates than\n positions authorized. (See Appendix B.) We also found that\n during the period December 199610 through June 2001,\n almost 40 percent (334) of the level 16 positions (857) were\n filled by promoting nongraduates, even though associate\n supervisor graduates were available to fill them. (See\n Appendix C.)\n\n\n\n\n10\n This is the date of graduation for the first associate supervisors in the Great Lakes Area.\n\n 12\n Restricted Information\n\x0cAssociate Supervisor Program LH-AR-02-005\n in the Great Lakes Area\n\n\n The Associate Supervisor Program, Program Coordinator\xe2\x80\x99s\n Guide, required that a complement11 of executive and\n administrative schedule level 15 associate supervisor\n positions be available to place program graduates. The\n guide also provided that the number of level 15 positions\n should be based on the number of level 16 positions\n authorized in the Postal Service\xe2\x80\x99s Organizational\n Management Staffing System.12 At the time of our audit, the\n guide also stated that promotions of level 15 associate\n supervisor graduates to level 16 supervisor positions, was\n not automatic.\n\n We found in two of the seven districts we reviewed, officials\n did not have the Organizational Management Staffing\n System reports needed to effectively monitor and plan for\n the placement and promotion of associate supervisors into\n level 15 and 16 vacancies. In another district, the reports\n were available, but were not always used; and in one other\n district, the reports were not current.\n\n We also found, that nongraduates were promoted to fill\n level 16 positions because: (1) graduates did not apply for\n the positions, and (2) managers were not required to select\n graduates that did apply, over nongraduates.\n\n Corrective Actions \t During the course of our audit, Postal Service management\n Taken\t took several actions to correct some of the conditions we\n found regarding the placement of program graduates.\n Specifically, in December 2001, the following changes were\n made to the Associate Supervisor Program:\n\n \xe2\x80\xa2\t Graduates were required to apply for executive\n and administrative schedule level 16 vacancies\n within 18 months after graduation or they would\n be automatically advanced to any open level\n 16 vacancy, within the track for which they trained\n without competition.\n\n \xe2\x80\xa2\t Existing graduates who had not been promoted within\n 18 months from September 8, 2001, would\n automatically be promoted into executive and\n administrative schedule level 16 positions.\n\n11\n Associate Supervisor Program complements are the number of executive and administrative schedule\nlevel 15 and 16 positions authorized.\n12\n The Organizational Management Staffing System is a computerized Postal Service system that provides\ninformation on authorized positions and incumbents.\n\n 13\n Restricted Information\n\x0cAssociate Supervisor Program LH-AR-02-005\n in the Great Lakes Area\n\n\n\n \xe2\x80\xa2\t Authorized executive and administrative schedule\n level 16 supervisory positions would be immediately\n filled.\n\n We believe these program changes, if properly\n implemented, should improve the Postal Service\xe2\x80\x99s ability to\n maximize the benefits of the Associate Supervisor Program\n by placing graduates when and where they are needed.\n These changes, however, do not address the need for\n district and area management to adequately determine the\n districts\xe2\x80\x99 requirements for executive and administrative\n schedule level 15 and 16 positions. In that regard, the\n following recommendation is provided.\n\n Recommendation\t We recommend the vice president, Great Lakes Area\n Operations:\n\n 7.\t Ensure district management determine the\n appropriate number of executive and administrative\n schedule level 15 and 16 positions needed in their\n district, using current Organizational Management\n Staffing System reports.\n\n Management\xe2\x80\x99s Management agreed with the finding and recommendation.\n Comment\xe2\x80\x99s They stated that with the implementation of the Associate\n Supervisor Program Universal Program there will be a direct\n correlation between the number of Associate Supervisor\n Program supervisors and supervisory vacancies. They also\n stated that by November 30, 2002, they will use historical\n supervisor attrition data and Organizational Management\n Staffing System reports to forecast the number of\n employees to enter into the Associate Supervisor Training\n Program. They said this data will be used to ensure that the\n Associate Supervisor Program supervisors are promoted\n into existing vacancies within 18 months of their graduation.\n\n Evaluation of Management\xe2\x80\x99s planned actions are responsive and meet the\n Management\xe2\x80\x99s intent of our recommendation.\n Comments\n\n Program Cost Not We could not determine the cost of the Associate Supervisor\n Determined Program in the Great Lakes Area because Postal Service\n management at the district, area, and headquarters levels\n did not have a budget nor did they track the cost for the\n program.\n\n 14\n Restricted Information\n\x0cAssociate Supervisor Program LH-AR-02-005\n in the Great Lakes Area\n\n\n\n Good business practices required the use of effective\n management controls. This included the use of sound\n methodologies for budgeting, recording, and reporting\n financial data about Postal Service programs and\n operations. In addition, two of the four phases of the Postal\n Service\xe2\x80\x99s CustomerPerfect! Management Cycle,13 deploying\n resources and reviewing and assessing progress toward\n goals, required the use of budgeting and accounting and\n financial data, respectively.\n\n A headquarters, human resources official told us that a\n budget was not established and program costs were not\n recorded for the Associate Supervisor Program, because\n there was only one full-time headquarters position assigned\n to work on the program, and thus the costs were minimal so\n no cost center or finance number was needed. In addition,\n he said that the Associate Supervisor Program was a district\n effort, and the costs were incurred and paid for by the\n districts.\n\n Because the training program lasts for 16 weeks and\n instructors are Postal Service employees, we believe a\n significant amount of resources have been expended on this\n program without a proper and accurate accounting to\n determine the program costs. Accounting and financial\n information not properly recorded and classified can result in\n distorted reporting and unreliable data used to manage\n programs and operations. In addition, without an accurate\n reporting of the Associate Supervisor Program costs, Postal\n Service management cannot accurately identify areas for\n potential cost savings.\n\n Recommendation\t We recommend the senior vice president, Human\n Resources:\n\n 8.\t Establish a budget and cost center to capture the\n Associate Supervisor Program expenditures, Postal\n Service-wide.\n\n Management\xe2\x80\x99s Management disagreed with the finding and\n Comments recommendation. They stated they did not believe it was\n practical to establish a budget and cost center for the\n\n13\n The CustomerPerfect! Management Cycle of planning, implementation, and review consisted of\nfour distinct phases of activities intended to give direction to the organization and to build and sustain\nimproved performance against the goals that are set.\n\n 15\n Restricted Information\n\x0cAssociate Supervisor Program LH-AR-02-005\n in the Great Lakes Area\n\n\n Associate Supervisor Program on a national level because it\n was not in line with other management training programs\n developed by Postal Service Headquarters. They said the\n costs incurred at the national level were primarily for training\n and selection materials. They also said the program\n administrative costs were included in the performance\n cluster budget.\n\n Evaluation of Management\xe2\x80\x99s planned actions are not responsive and do\n Management\xe2\x80\x99s not meet the intent of our recommendation. As stated in our\n Comments report, accounting and financial information not properly\n recorded and classified can result in distorted reporting and\n unreliable data used to manage programs and operations.\n In addition, without an accurate reporting of costs, Postal\n Service management cannot accurately identify areas for\n potential cost savings, which are important given the Postal\n Service\xe2\x80\x99s current financial condition.\n\n In addition, we find management\xe2\x80\x99s comments inconsistent\n with their agreement to a similar recommendation made in\n our report on the Postal Service\xe2\x80\x99s Corporate Succession\n Planning Process.14 Specifically, we found that Postal\n Service Headquarters was unable to identify all the training\n costs associated with the development of potential\n successors. We recommended that management establish\n a centralized system to monitor and analyze potential\n training costs to determine, among other things, that overall\n business goals were achieved. Management agreed with\n the finding and recommendation in that report. The OIG\n considers recommendation 8 as unresolved and plans to\n pursue it through the formal audit resolution process.\n\n Program Oversight Great Lakes Area management had not provided oversight\n Improvements Needed that ensured the Associate Supervisor Program was\n implemented efficiently, effectively, and properly in each of\n its seven districts. We found, however, that area office\n management had worked with area personnel to approve\n district Associate Supervisor Program complements and\n provided assistance and guidance to district coordinators in\n program administration.\n\n The Associate Supervisor Program, Program Coordinator's\n Guide assigned oversight responsibility to the area program\n\n14\n Postal Service\xe2\x80\x99s Corporate Succession Planning Process, (Report Number LH-AR-02-004) (September 3,\n2002).\n\n 16\n Restricted Information\n\x0cAssociate Supervisor Program LH-AR-02-005\n in the Great Lakes Area\n\n\n coordinator for coordinating the program to ensure that the\n program was implemented properly within each district in the\n area. Area and headquarters officials told us, however, that\n their interpretation of the guide was that district coordinators\n were responsible for program oversight.\n\n A misunderstanding about oversight may have contributed\n to inconsistencies in district implementation of the program.\n Specifically, as previously discussed, the districts differed in\n their hiring procedures, establishment of applicant suitability\n requirements, and processing of external and internal\n applicants. For example, in four of the seven districts we\n reviewed, Associate Supervisor Program officials did not use\n the documentation required to fill executive and\n administrative schedule level 16 positions by competitive\n promotion. This documentation was needed to insure\n accountability as it relates to the number of applicants that\n applied and who they were. We also found that one district\n established a unique suitability requirement that an applicant\n should have a sick leave balance that equaled or exceeded\n 60 percent of what they earned during their Postal Service\n career.\n\n We believe oversight of Associate Supervisor Program\n activities at the area level is necessary to help ensure that\n management's directives are consistently carried out, and to\n help identify and address major performance challenges in\n areas at greatest risk for waste and mismanagement.\n\n Recommendation We recommend the senior vice president, Human\n Resources:\n\n 9. Provide clarification to headquarters and area\n officials responsible for the Associate Supervisor\n Program, that oversight responsibility for district\n program activities is at the area level.\n\n Management\xe2\x80\x99s Management agreed with the finding and recommendation.\n Comments They stated they agreed that the area office must have a\n certain level of oversight responsibility for their districts.\n They also stated they strongly believed that the\n responsibility must be shared with performance cluster\n management officials. A copy of management\xe2\x80\x99s response to\n the OIG, noting their agreement, was provided to both the\n headquarters and area officials responsible for the program.\n\n\n 17\n Restricted Information\n\x0cAssociate Supervisor Program LH-AR-02-005\n in the Great Lakes Area\n\n\n\n\n Evaluation of Management\xe2\x80\x99s action was responsive and met the intent of\n Management\xe2\x80\x99s our recommendation.\n Comments\n\n\n\n\n 18\n Restricted Information\n\x0cAssociate Supervisor Program LH-AR-02-005\n in the Great Lakes Area\n\n\n\n APPENDIX A. SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY\n\nThis audit covered headquarters and area program operations, and operations in\nthe following seven district performance clusters in the Great Lakes Area:\n\n \xe2\x80\xa2 Central Illinois District, South Suburban, Illinois\n \xe2\x80\xa2 Chicago District, Chicago, Illinois\n \xe2\x80\xa2 Detroit District, Detroit, Michigan\n \xe2\x80\xa2 Greater Indiana District, Indianapolis, Indiana\n \xe2\x80\xa2 Greater Michigan District, Grand Rapids, Michigan\n \xe2\x80\xa2 Northern Illinois District, Carol Stream, Illinois\n \xe2\x80\xa2 Royal Oak District, Royal Oak, Michigan\n\nTo determine whether the Great Lakes Area management was assessing the\nimpact of the Associate Supervisor Program, we interviewed headquarters and\narea office staffs and we documented the methodology and efforts they\nemployed to assess program impact and evaluate the program\xe2\x80\x99s success. We\nreviewed a FY 2001 survey of managers and program graduates that assessed\nnew associate supervisors\xe2\x80\x99 skills. In addition, we reviewed GAO reports relevant\nto the issues. We also identified Postal Service plans to evaluate the Associate\nSupervisor Program; and reviewed the Postal Service\xe2\x80\x99s Threat Assessment\nTeam Guide, Publication 108, to identify workplace climate indicators that could\nalso be used to assess workplace climate.\n\nTo understand the policies and procedures for implementing the Associate\nSupervisor Program we reviewed the Associate Supervisor Program, Program\nCoordinator\xe2\x80\x99s Guide, August 1998. We also reviewed the Employment and\nPlacement Handbook, (EL-312), September 2001, Personnel Operations\nHandbook (EL-311), April 1990, and GAO reports.\n\nTo determine how the Associate Supervisor Program was implemented and\nmanaged, we interviewed Postal Service officials at headquarters in the\nSelection, Evaluation and Recognition office and Employee Development office,\nas well as area office officials, the district human resources managers, and the\ndistrict office managers. We obtained the roles and responsibilities of these\nofficials and their staff. We reviewed the Associate Supervisor Program process\nbeginning with the time applications were received by the Postal Service, until\nthe graduates were placed after successfully completing the program. We\ncompiled data on the number of applicants, dropouts, and graduates, and the\nnumber of graduates promoted since graduation. We also reviewed the area and\ndistricts\xe2\x80\x99 adherence to Associate Supervisors Program guidelines for screening,\ntesting, interviewing, rating, and placement of applicants on eligibility registers.\nWe compared the procedures used by the area and districts to process\ngraduates, to the procedures described in the program guide. We used the\nperiod January 2000 through June 2001 because major program changes in\n\n 19\n Restricted Information\n\x0cAssociate Supervisor Program LH-AR-02-005\n in the Great Lakes Area\n\n\npolicies and procedures went into effect in January 2000, and our fieldwork\nstarted July 2001. For this period, we reviewed all 366 Associate Supervisor\nProgram applications for those who graduated after the January 2000 changes\nwere implemented.\n\nTo determine the objectivity of the applicant selection criteria and consistency of\nits application we reviewed the applications for all 366 graduates from\nJanuary 2000 through June 2001 and tested the degree of compliance with\nprogram eligibility and suitability requirements for internal and external applicants\nas outlined in the Associate Supervisors Program, Program Coordinator\xe2\x80\x99s Guide,\nthe Personnel Operations Handbook, (EL-311) and, the Employee and Labor\nHandbook, (EL-312). In addition, to identify applicants who were disqualified\nbecause they did not meet suitability requirements, we reviewed the structured\ninterview list of ratings for class one in the Detroit District.\n\nTo determine whether the Postal Service was maximizing the benefits of the\nAssociate Supervisor Program through its placement of graduates, we identified\nthe locations where Associate Supervisor Program graduates were assigned and\nreviewed Postal Service Organizational Management Staffing System reports\nidentifying the number of graduates authorized to meet the needs of the\norganization. We then compared the number of Associate Supervisor Program\ngraduates assigned, to the number of associated supervisor authorized positions.\nWe also compared the number of executive and administrative schedule level 16\nvacancies in the districts to the number of associate supervisor graduates\nassigned and authorized. Finally, we compared the number of executive and\nadministrative schedule level 16 vacancies to the number of Associate\nSupervisor Program graduates at the same district. We used the period\nbeginning with the month of the first graduates in December 1996 through\nJune 2001, and selected and tracked the movement of all (915) graduates for\nthat period, from the time they applied for the vacancy and were selected,\nthrough training, job placement after graduation, and subsequent promotions,\nwhen applicable.\n\nTo determine the costs of the Associate Supervisor Program we interviewed\nsenior-level headquarters and district office officials responsible for\nadministration of the associate supervisor program and requested budget and\nexpenditure reports for the program. We determined there were no records of\nexpenditures and that budgets had not been established for the Associate\nSupervisor Program. We also determined there were no finance or accounting\ncodes used to capture program costs by account or cost center. Due to the\nabsence of accounting records and other official documentation to support\nexpenditures for the program, we were unable to determine the cost of the\nprogram.\n\n\n\n\n 20\n Restricted Information\n\x0cAssociate Supervisor Program LH-AR-02-005\n in the Great Lakes Area\n\n\n APPENDIX B\n\n COMPARISON OF THE NUMBER OF EXECUTIVE AND \n\n ADMINISTRATIVE SCHEDULE LEVEL 15 AUTHORIZED \n\n POSITIONS TO THE NUMBER OF ASSOCIATE SUPERVISOR \n\n GRADUATES\n\n AS OF JUNE 2001\n\n\n\n Executive and Administrative Schedule\n Level 15 Positions\n Number of\n Number of Number Graduates That\n Authorized Graduated Exceeded\n District Positions (On Payroll) Positions\n Central Illinois 49 54 5\n Chicago 61 103 42\n Detroit 49 31 -18\n Greater Indiana 25 32 7\n Greater Michigan 22 20 -2\n Northern Illinois 56 40 -16\n Royal Oak 32 34 2\n Totals 294 314 20\n\n\n\n\n 21\n Restricted Information\n\x0cAssociate Supervisor Program LH-AR-02-005\n in the Great Lakes Area\n\n\n APPENDIX C\n\n COMPARISION OF NONGRADUATE AND GRADUATE\n PROMOTIONS TO EXECUTIVE AND ADMINISTRATIVE\n SCHEDULE LEVEL 16 POSITIONS\n DECEMBER 1996 THROUGH JUNE 2001\n\n\n Total\n Number of\n Promotions Program\n to Level 16 Nongraduates Graduates Graduates\n District Supervisor Promoted Promoted Available\n Central Illinois 121 16 105 166\n Chicago 96 52 44 188\n Detroit 92 1 91 138\n Greater Indiana 99 30 69 105\n Greater Michigan 83 51 32 80\n Northern Illinois 150 22 128 130\n Royal Oak 216 162 54 108\n Totals 857 334 523 915\n\n\n\n\n 22\n Restricted Information\n\x0cAssociate Supervisor Program LH-AR-02-005\n in the Great Lakes Area\n\n\n APPENDIX D. MANAGEMENT\xe2\x80\x99S COMMENTS\n\n\n\n\n 23\n Restricted Information\n\x0cAssociate Supervisor Program LH-AR-02-005\n in the Great Lakes Area\n\n\n\n\n 24\n Restricted Information\n\x0cAssociate Supervisor Program LH-AR-02-005\n in the Great Lakes Area\n\n\n\n\n 25\n Restricted Information\n\x0cAssociate Supervisor Program LH-AR-02-005\n in the Great Lakes Area\n\n\n\n\n 26\n Restricted Information\n\x0c"


type: legislation

jurisdiction: EU

text:
 5.11.2013
 DA
 Den Europæiske Unions Tidende
 L 293/24
 KOMMISSIONENS GENNEMFØRELSESFORORDNING (EU) Nr. 1085/2013
 af 30. oktober 2013
 om registrering af visse betegnelser i registret over beskyttede oprindelsesbetegnelser og beskyttede geografiske betegnelser [Westfälischer Knochenschinken (BGB)]
 EUROPA-KOMMISSIONEN HAR —
 under henvisning til traktaten om Den Europæiske Unions funktionsmåde,
 under henvisning til Europa-Parlamentets og Rådets forordning (EU) nr. 1151/2012 af 21. november 2012 om kvalitetsordninger for landbrugsprodukter og fødevarer (1), særlig artikel 52, stk. 2, og
 ud fra følgende betragtninger:
 (1)
 I henhold til artikel 50, stk. 2, litra a), i forordning (EF) nr. 1151/2012 er Tysklands ansøgning om registrering af betegnelsen »Westfälischer Knochenschinken« blevet offentliggjort i Den Europæiske Unions Tidende
 (2).
 (2)
 Da Kommissionen ikke har modtaget indsigelser, jf. artikel 51 i forordning (EF) nr. 1151/2012, bør betegnelsen »Westfälischer Knochenschinken« registreres —
 VEDTAGET DENNE FORORDNING:
 Artikel 1
 Betegnelsen i bilaget til denne forordning registreres.
 Artikel 2
 Denne forordning træder i kraft på tyvendedagen efter offentliggørelsen i Den Europæiske Unions Tidende.
 Denne forordning er bindende i alle enkeltheder og gælder umiddelbart i hver medlemsstat.
 Udfærdiget i Bruxelles, den 30. oktober 2013.
 På Kommissionens vegne For formanden
 Dacian CIOLOȘ
 Medlem af Kommissionen
 (1) EUT L 343 af 14.12.2012, s. 1.
 (2) EUT C 102 af 9.4.2013, s. 8.
 BILAG
 Landbrugsprodukter bestemt til konsum, som er opført i traktatens bilag I:
 Kategori 1.2. Kødprodukter
 TYSKLAND
 Westfälischer Knochenschinken (BGB)


type: caselaw

text:
 29.7.2006
 SL
 Uradni list Evropske unije
 C 178/41
 Sodba Sodišča za uslužbence (drugi senat) z dne 15. junija 2006 — Mc Sweeney in Armstrong proti Komisiji
 (Zadeva F-25/05) (1)
 (Splošni natečaj - Obvestilo o natečaju - Navodila kandidatom - Nepripustitev k izpitom - Zahtevane diplome - Pristojnost OPI)
 (2006/C 178/76)
 Jezik postopka: francoščina
 Stranke
 Tožeči stranki: Dypna Mc Sweeney (Bruselj, Belgija) in Pauline Armstrong (Overijse, Belgija) (zastopniki: S. Orlandi, X. Martin, A. Coolen, J.-N. Louis in E. Marchal, avocats)
 Tožena stranka: Komisija Evropskih skupnosti (zastopnika: H. Tserepa-Lacombe in K. Herrmann, zastopnika)
 Predmet zadeve
 Razglasitev ničnosti odločb komisije z dne 6. in 7. septembra 2004 o zavrnitvi pripustitve tožečih strank k natečaju EPSO/C/11/03 (UL 2003, C 267 A, str. 1), ki je bil organiziran za sestavo rezervnega seznama za tajnike za angleški jezik (C 5/C 4)
 Izrek sodbe
 1)
 Odločbi komisije z dne 6. in 7. septembra 2004 o zavrnitvi pripustitve tožečih strank k natečaju EPSO/C/11/03 se razglasita za nični.
 2)
 Komisiji Evropskih skupnosti se naloži plačilo stroškov postopka.
 (1) UL C 182, 23.7.2005 (zadeva, najprej vložena pri Sodišču prve stopnje Evropskih skupnosti pod opravilno številko T-184/05 in s sklepom z dne 15.12.2005 prenesena na Sodišče za uslužbence Evropske unije).


text:
For the purpose of emphasis, and to avoid unnecessary explanatory comment, section 124 of article 81 will be repeated, with the more significant terms italicized:
 "124. All estates real, personal and mixed, money, public and private securities for money of every kind, passing from any person who may die seized and possessed thereof, being in this State, or any part of such estate or estates, money or securities, or interest therein, transferred by deed, will, grant, bargain, gift or sale, made or intended to take effect inpossession after the death of the grantor, bargainor, devisor or donor to any person or persons, bodies corporate, in trust or otherwise, other than to or for the use of the father, mother, husband, wife, children and lineal descendants of the grantor, *Page 221
 bargainor or testator, donor or intestate shall be subject to a tax of five per centum in every hundred dollars of the clear value of such estate, money or securities; and all executors, administrators, trustees and other persons making distribution, shall only be discharged from liability for the amount of such tax, the payment of which they be charged with, by paying the same for the use of this state, as hereinafter directed; provided, that no estate which may be valued at less sum than five hundred dollars shall be subject to the tax imposed by this section." Code, vol. 2, art. 81, sec. 124, as amended by chapter 242 of Acts of 1927. Compare Acts 1929, ch. 226, sec. 105, Code, Supp. 1929, art. 81, sec. 124.
 It will be observed that this section defined by exclusion. General and comprehensive terms are first employed, and then certain classes of persons and of property are withdrawn from the operation of the law, whose origin and history may be found and followed in chapter 237 of the Acts of 1844; Code of 1860, art. 81, sec. 124; Acts of 1864, ch. 200; Acts 1874, ch. 483, sec. 113; Code of 1878, art. 11, sec. 104; Acts of 1880, ch. 444; Code of 1888, art. 81, sec. 102; Code of 1904, art. 81, sec. 117; Code of 1924, vol. 2, art. 81, sec. 124, as amended by chapter 242 of Acts of 1927. While there have been a few changes in the language of the statute as first enacted in the Acts of 1844, the changes are not material to this discussion, except in the dropping of "or enjoyment" from the clause "made or intended to take effect in possession or enjoyment" of the original act. See Code of 1860, art. 81, sec. 124, and Code of 1888, art. 81, sec. 102. The language of the law in which the tax originated, together with the subsequent amendatory legislation, makes it clear that the tax created is imposed upon any estate or interest in real or personal property, within the State of Maryland, of which either (first) the party has died seized or possessed, and of which he has either died intestate or has made testamentary disposition, so that, in either contingency, the estate or interest shall pass from the intestate or testator to collaterals within the definition of the law; or (second) the party, being so seized or possessed of any such estate or *Page 222
 interest, has before death transferred, so as to take effect in possession after his death, such estate or interest to any of the defined class of collaterals. The question before the court in the present record falls within the second category.
 In the present case, the owner, who was seized or possessed of real and personal property, conveyed and assigned it absolutely to a third party in trust, with power to sell, lease, mortgage, or convey, and the net income thereof to pay to the grantor for and during her natural life, with the power to dispose of all or any part of the corpus of the trust as the grantor should by her last will direct, and, in default of such appointment, then, in further trust, that the trustee divide, transfer, and pay over the trust estate among the heirs of the grantor. The legal estate in fee simple in the realty and an absolute legal title in the personalty passed by this deed to the trustee, and so remained until the trust was determined according to its terms and purpose. The grantor made no exception, but conveyed her entire interest in the whole of the property to the trustee. As a result of the terms of the grant, she created an equitable life estate in herself with remainder in her heirs, defeasible in whole or in part upon the exercise by her of her power to dispose of the trust estate, in whole or part, by a last will. So she had no estate nor interest, save an equitable life estate, which, of course, was neither descendible, distributable, nor transmissible. It is true that the grantor was the donee of a power to will, and could thereby appoint the corpus in whole or in part. The reservation of a power is not an exclusion from the operation of the grant of a certain part of what is conveyed by its general words of description, nor the creation by the grantor for his benefit of a new thing "issuing out of" the land and not previously in existence. Infra. The creation, therefore, of a power to appoint is neither an exception nor reservation within the technical meaning of those terms, although the terms have been applied in connection with a clause in a conveyance by which the grantor retains a power of disposition over the land conveyed. 2 Tiffany, Real Property (2nd Ed.), sec. 436, page 1606. However, as is evident from the *Page 223
 quotation from Mr. Tiffany's work that is found in the decision of the court, the use of the term "reservation" in this connection is justifiable on the ground of convenience rather than of accuracy, and is not objectionable in the ordinary case. This qualified approval of the extension of the application of the term "reserve" and "reservation" does not, however, alter the essential nature of a power to appoint by will, which is neither an estate nor an interest in the subject-matter of the power. For the donee of the power has neither legal nor equitable title to the property over which the right to appoint exists, and so possesses no exclusive rights of any form of legal or equitable ownership whereby any use, enjoyment, or dominion of the property which may be appointed inures to her by virtue of any estate or right in such property. International News Service v. AssociatedPress, 248 U.S. 215, 39 S. Ct. 68, 63 L. Ed. 211; De Lauder v.Baltimore County, 94 Md. 1, 6, 50 A. 427; Royal Ins. Co. v.Drury, 150 Md. 211, 225, 132 A. 635.
 The power to appoint was limited in time and in mode of execution; and the donee could, in a proprietary capacity, neither alienate, bargain and sell, bequeath nor devise the property which might be appointed (a). Nor, in the absence of fraud in the inception of the deed, could this property be made subject to the claims of appointor's creditors, whether in bankruptcy, insolvency, or otherwise; nor could it be taken by them in attachment or execution howsoever (b); nor is it subject to dower of the wife of the donee (c).
 (a) Wilks v. Burns, 60 Md. 64, 68; Worthington v. Rich,77 Md. 265, 269-270, 26 A. 403; Chenoweth v. Bullitt, 224 Ky. 698,6 S.W.2d 1061; 2 Tiffany on Real Property (2nd Ed.), sec. 327, p. 1093, sec. 322, n. 41. (b) Balls v. Dampman,69 Md. 390, 394-395, 16 A. 16; Price v. Cherbonnier, 103 Md. 107, 110-111, 63 A. 209; Prince de Bearn v. Winans, 111 Md. 434, 472, 74 A. 626; Jones v. Clifton, 101 U.S. 225, 229-231, 25 L. Ed. 908; Story's Equity Jur. (14th Ed.), sec. 250 (176);Cleveland Nat. Bank v. Morrow, 99 Tenn. 527, 42 S.W. 200;Holmes v. Coghill, 12 Ves. Jr. 206; Rhode Island HospitalTrust v. Anthony, *Page 224 49 R.I. 339, 142 A. 531, reported in 59 A.L.R. 1501, with an able and comprehensive statement of the conflict of authority on the rights in equity of creditors of a donee who has executed a general power of disposition. See Tiffany, Real Property (2nd Ed.), sec. 332. (c) Ray v. Pung, 5 B. Ald. 561; Sugden onPowers (8th Ed.), 144, n.; Armstrong v. Kerns, 61 Md. 364, 369.
 Quoting from Mutual Benefit Society v. Clendinen, 44 Md. 429, 433: "A power is defined to be a liberty or authority reserved by, or limited to, a party to dispose of real or personal property for his own benefit, or for the benefit of others, and operating upon an estate or interest, vested either in himself or in some other person; the liberty or authority, however, not being derived out of such estate or interest, but overreaching or superseding it, either wholly or partially." Butler, note 1 to Co. Lit. 342b; 1 Chance on Powers, sec. 1. Again: "That a person having a power over property has not, in strictness, any interest in, or right or title to, the property to which the power relates, appears in early authorities." Albany's Case, 1 Co. 110b; Lampet's Case, 10 Co. 48b; Co. Lit. 265b. "Though where the power is for his own benefit, he has the means of acquiring such interest, right or title; and in all cases, by the execution of the power, the possession, right, title or interest is altered or divested." Id., sec. 2; Mandrell v. Mandrell,
 10 Ves. 246b, 255; 1 Sugden on Powers, [*]121; 4 Kent,Commentaries, [*]319.
 Mr. Tiffany sums up the matter in the statement that "a power over land, a mere ability to dispose thereof, is obviously not an estate therein nor does it involve rights of property or ownership." He, however, continues with these remarks: "It has even been said not to be an interest in the land, but whether this is so depends on the meaning which we may choose to give to the indefinite expression interest. Especially when the donee of the power may exercise it for his own benefit does it seem difficult to say that he has no interest in the land." Tiffanyon Real Property (2nd Ed.), sec. 310. *Page 225
 It may be urged in reply to this view that no legal or equitable interest in the property to be appointed can arise in a donee under a general power of appointment until the power is first executed, since the interest in the appointee has no existence except by virtue and as a result of the exercise of the power. Moreover, the right to exercise the power is not an interest within the meaning of the statute, because by its explicit terms the interest contemplated must be in an estate in real, personal or mixed property, public and private securities for money of every kind passing from a testator or intestate, or transferred by the donor by deed, grant, bargain, gift or sale. It may further be stated that, as the appointment is to be made by will and not by deed or will, it could not be exercised except by a testamentary disposition. And so, upon these considerations, and in view of this court's approval, in Mutual Benefit Societyv. Clendinen, 44 Md. 433, of the doctrine, it is sound in principle and on authority to insist that the donee, qua donee, has neither any interest in nor right nor title to the property over which the power may be exercised. Tiffany, Real Property
 (2nd Ed.), secs. 310, 313-315, 317, 318.
 It follows from these principles and conclusions that, upon the death of the life tenant in the equitable estate, she was not seized and possessed of any right, title or interest passing from her to any one whomsoever. The equitable estate in remainder, which under the deed of the donor had been in her heirs at law, defeasible upon her execution of a retained power of disposition by last will, was defeated, and an equitable remainder or executory interest vested in the appointees, as a result of the execution of the donor's power of testamentary disposition.Supra. The collateral parties holding under and by execution of the power took under the donor, qua donor, and in like manner as if the power, and the instrument executing it, had been incorporated in the instrument by which the donor created the power. So, if there be a lien of judgment or execution on the equitable estates or interests which had its origin during the period *Page 226
 between the creation of the power and its execution, or a dower claim of the wife of any person entitled in default of appointment, these will be defeated by the making of the appointment. Tiffany, Real Property (2nd Ed.), secs. 314, 315;Conner v. Waring, 52 Md. 724, 732-734; Armstrong v. Kerns,61 Md. 364, 368-369; Reed v. McIlvain, 113 Md. 140, 146,77 A. 329; Albert v. Albert, 68 Md. 372, 12 A. 11; Thomas v. Gregg,76 Md. 174, 24 A. 418.
 Hence the parties taking under the power derive their estate from the deed creating the power; and their rights are ascertained and enforced according to the construction of this deed, with the instrument whereby the power has been executed incorporated in the deed as an integral part thereof. The document thus completed, when construed as of the date of the execution of the deed, will determine the estate and interest of the appointees of the power. Supra.
 Unless, therefore, the deed to the trustee, as thus amplified and completed, was made or intended to take effect in possession after the death of the grantor, no collateral tax is imposed by the statute. The solution of this problem must begin with a determination of the legal effect of the conveyance as completed by the incorporation therein of the terms of the execution of the power. The deed conveyed in praesenti the absolute and complete legal title to the subject-matter of the grant to a trustee, who took immediate possession of all the property for the use and benefit of the grantor for her life, and then for the heirs of the grantor in remainder, and for such appointees, if any, of the equitable estate or interest, in remainder or executory limitation under an executed testamentary power. The deed, therefore, became effective from its date, and immediate and actual possession of the legal title and estate was taken by the trustee. And so with respect to the equitable title and estate, which, while divided into an equitable life estate and an equitable estate in remainder or executory limitation, devolved forthwith and at once, in accordance with the principles stated, upon the life tenant, and those taking in remainder, and, in the event of an appointment, upon those appointed to take by *Page 227
 way of remainder or executory limitation. Tiffany, RealProperty (2nd Ed.), secs. 313,315. The possession of the equitable life tenant and of those entitled to take, by way of remainder or executory limitation, after the death of the life tenant, was not an actual occupancy or custody of the corpus of the trust, since this actual possession was only possible to the trustee as the holder of the legal title under an active trust. So the estate created, from its inception, was not susceptible of actual possession by the beneficiaries of the trust, but these beneficiaries, first, the life tenant and the heirs holding in defeasible remainder, and then the appointees under the power, took and held their respective equitable titles and estates from the date of the execution of the deed, and were entitled and had under the deed their respective rights and titles to full but successive enjoyment of the benefits of such equitable estates from the date of the deed. The circumstance that the enjoyment of the benefits of the trust was successive instead of contemporaneous does not postpone or defer the time of the acquisition of the equitable title of the remaindermen and appointees to that of the death of the life tenant, when all took and held their titles as of the same date by virtue of the same document of title. It would be a denial of the deed, of authority, and of long-established principles of construction, if it be declared that the grant of the appointee's title was intended by the grantor, or could be assumed by the court, to be inoperative until the death of the life tenant. Supra. If such were the law, a deed by A to B, in trust for C for life, and then over to D, would not transfer any title to D until C's death. In the teeth of the express transfer of title by the deed to the appointee, and from the nature of the case, it cannot be logically said that the terms of the deed establish that it was made or intended to take effect in possession, with respect to the appointee's title, only upon the death of the life tenant. The circumstance that the grantor in the deed of trust became thereby an equitable life tenant, with a power of testamentary disposition, is immaterial. *Page 228
 The title, estate, and interest of the grantor as owner in fee simple of the realty and absolutely of the personally conveyed and assigned in trust to a trustee, and then as an equitable life tenant of the trust estate created, with a power of testamentary disposition over the corpus of the trust, are as successive and separate as though the grantor and life tenant were different persons; and, in the absence of fraud, must be here so regarded in the application of the principles of law relative to these titles, estates, and interests. And, similarly, the donor and appointor are to be treated as if they were distinct individuals.Brown v. Renshaw, 57 Md. 67; Farlow v. Farlow, 83 Md. 118, 34 A. 837; Nevin v. Gillespie, 56 Md. 320; Benesch v. Clark,49 Md. 497, 504; Conner v. Waring, 52 Md. 724; Foos v. Scarf,55 Md. 301, 310; Albert v. Albert, 68 Md. 352, 372, 12 A. 11;Ridgely v. Cross, 83 Md. 161, 34 A. 469; Welsh v. Gist,101 Md. 606, 608, 61 A. 665; Cook v. Councilman, 109 Md. 638,72 A. 404; Marden v. Leimbach, 115 Md. 206, 80 A. 958; Beranek v.Caccimaici, 157 Md. 144, 145 A. 369.
 The appeal of Fisher v. State, 106 Md. 104, 66 A. 661, is not a refutation but an illustration of the application of the position taken by this dissent. There by will a testator gave property to trustees for the use and benefit of his wife for life, with a general power in the equitable life tenant to appoint by last will, and the wife executed the power by giving the estate to a collateral, and the estate was held subject to the collateral inheritance tax. This was true, because the instrument whereby the appointor exercised the power became, on the principles stated, the complementary part of the will of the donor, and the appointee took and held under the donor's will, which, as thus completed and read, was effective at the donor's death and was the sole source of the appointee's estate. Supra;Downes v. Safe Dep. Tr. Co., 157 Md. 87, 145 A. 350; Miller'sConstruction of Wills, 742, 743.
 2. Whether regarded as equitable estates in remainder or as executory limitations, the title of the appointees thereof took effect by relation as of the date of the execution of the *Page 229
 deed, but, while seized and possessed in interest, the appointees were not seized and possessed in enjoyment until the death of the equitable life tenant. Although this postponement of enjoyment was according to the nature of the successive equitable estates created by the deed, and did not defer the transfer by relation of the title and estate in interest to the appointees from the date of the execution of the deed to the day of the death of the equitable life tenant, who had been the grantor to the trustee, yet it apparently furnishes a stronger basis for the prevailing opinion than the one adopted. However, this seeming support disappears upon analysis.
 If the correct construction of the statute should reject as controlling the time at which the document of transfer becomes operative, and should declare that no matter when the estate or interest is created, the right, at the death of the maker of the document, to the present actual beneficial occupation or enjoyment of the estate or interest in the property of the maker, within the state and transferred to collaterals as defined by the statute, is the final and determinative test for the imposition of the tax, this conclusion must depend upon the language of the statute: "Transferred by deed, will, grant, bargain, gift or sale, made or intended to take effect in possession after the death of the grantor, bargainor, devisor or donor," when considered in connection with the context of the law. This second clause refers grammatically to the instrument of transfer, and the difficulty arises over the term "to take effect in possession" after the death of the maker of the instrument. If a party die testate or intestate, and his estate, whether vested in interest or in possession, descend or pass to collaterals, there is no problem, and, obviously, the portion of the law now being considered was to cover those instances where the estate passed to collaterals at the death of the party by virtue of some other instrument than a will. This conclusion is fortified by the fact that the tax is on a transfer at death of the then ownership of property. *Page 230
 Again, the key word of the construction is "possession," which is a slippery term. Its meaning is various, particularly when used in a statute with reference to every possible form of real, personal, and mixed property. National Safe Deposit Co. v.Stead, 232 U.S. 58, 67, 34 S. Ct. 209, 58 L. Ed. 504; GreenwichBank v. Hartford Ins. Co., 250 N.Y. 116, 125, 164 N.E. 876;Leslie v. Rothes [1894], 2 Ch. 499, 506. One of these meanings is ownership apart from any question of immediate occupancy or use. And, in this sense, it is in harmony with the present language of the statute. Webster's Dictionary; CenturyDictionary. It is of some significance that the original statute (Acts of 1844, ch. 237, sec. 1, lines 10 and 11) read: "Made or intended to take effect in possession or enjoyment." In 1860, the General Assembly re-enacted the statute and omitted the words "or enjoyment," and they have never been restored by any successive amendment. Code of 1860, page 5, and Code of 1924, art. 81, sec. 124, and supra.
 The estates which are so limited as not to be vested in present possession, but to be in expectancy or future possession, are reversions, remainders, and executory interests. So a grantor who held such an estate in futuro could not, by any deed or other instrument whatsoever, grant, devise, bequeath, or transfer such an estate so as to take effect in possession at his death, if, at his death, the event or contingency upon which is limited his right to a present possession and enjoyment of the property had not then happened. Therefore, if the proper construction of the words "to take effect in possession" is not equivalent to become operative as a transfer of ownership, whether the subject-matter of the transfer be an estate in present possession or one in expectancy or future possession, there would be no collateral tax laid upon an estate in futuro of the decedent. The statute, however, is plain that no distinction was intended to be made in the imposition of the collateral inheritance tax on whether or not an estate or interest was in praesenti or in futuro, and this is a convincing argument that the words "to take effect in possession" do not refer to estates or interests, *Page 231
 but only to those documents of title which are designed to become operative as a transfer of interest of estate at the time of the death of the maker. Code, art. 81, secs. 124, 138, 139.
 Since the context demonstrates that the law concerns the estate passing from the owner at death, and not a transaction operatinginter vivos, all documents of title which are delivered with the intention of taking effect at the time of delivery and not at the death of the maker are not within the terms of the act. The phrase "take effect in possession after the death" must be read with this circumstance in mind and in association with the other phrase "all estates * * * passing from any person who may die seized and possessed," which language evidently embraces every form of ownership, whether with the right of present or future occupancy, enjoyment, or use. So it must be concluded that, declaring the transfer of every form of property, whether vested, contingent, or with its occupation, use, or enjoyment subsisting or in futuro, by a document of title which was made or intended to take effect in possession after the death of the maker, to be subject to the tax, was an enactment that applied to those documents which would become operative in the transfer of title or ownership at the death of the maker by reason either of the nature of the instrument or of its terms or the condition of its delivery. State v. Dalrymple, 70 Md. 297, 299, 17 A. 82. So, if the document of transfer is effective as a testamentary paper, or is one which does not become operative to pass title or ownership except at and upon the maker's death, or is one whose terms are a cover for what is actually a transfer of ownership at death of the maker, the statute applies, as the transfer of title or ownership is deferred until the maker's death, because a testamentary writing is ambulatory until death of the testator; a document of title conditional on its maker's death does not transfer title or ownership until the fulfillment of the antecedent condition or event upon which ownership is made to depend; and a feigned transfer so as to have and enjoy one's property as owner until death and then to transfer to collaterals title and ownership *Page 232
 in what remains, is, when disclosed, an actual transfer of title and ownership at death. The first two classes of documents of title are too familiar to need comment or illustration. Tiffanyon Real Property (2nd Ed.), secs. 461, 462, pp. 1763, 1768-1774, 1778-1788; Kelleher v. Kernan, 60 Md. 440; Carey v. Dennis,13 Md. 17; Clark v. Creswell, 112 Md. 339, 76 A. 579; Renehanv. McAvoy, 116 Md. 359, 81 A. 586. The third class is exemplified by the cases of Smith v. State, 134 Md. 474, 478,107 A. 255, and Lilly v. State, 156 Md. 94, 100, 143 A. 661.
 In the first of the two cases last cited an active trust was created. The grantor became the equitable life tenant, and at her death the estate passed to her heirs at law and next of kin, with power in the grantor to appoint by last will among such persons as she should direct, but the grantor reserved the paramount power of completely revoking and rescinding the instrument by deed, which would be an act of complete dominion by, and in behalf of, the grantor. 134 Md., pages 478, 479, 107 A. 255, 257. It is true the grantor did not rescind the deed, but exercised the power of testamentary disposition, which, the court remarked, "of course, could only take effect after she had departed this life." In view of the decisions, this is correct only to the extent of referring to the power taking effect in enjoyment and not in title or interest. Supra.
 In the second case, the husband was the owner of valuable real estate, which, for his purpose, he conveyed to a third party for a nominal consideration, and immediately the straw man reconveyed the land, for a consideration of one dollar, to the husband as sole trustee for the use and benefit of the husband's wife for life, and for his benefit for life, if he survived her, and, upon the death of the survivor, then over to the heirs of the husband, with power in the husband to appoint by will; and also, with power, inter alia, to the trustee to sell and convey all or any part of the land, and to mortgage the same, with no obligation on the part of the purchaser or mortgagee for the application of the purchase money; and to change, in his discretion, the investment of the *Page 233
 whole or any part of the trust estate. In addition to these wide powers, the husband as trustee was authorized to pay to his wife, for her support and protection, such amounts from the principal of the trust as he might see fit; and the husband and wife had the power (a) to revoke and rescind the trust, whereupon all the property was to vest absolutely in the husband, his heirs and assigns, and (b) to change and recharge or terminate, at any time and to any extent, the terms of the deed of trust. 156 Md., pages 100-102, 143 A. 661. The husband died first, and executed the power of disposition by a will giving the property to collateral relatives.
 The terms, nature and object of the deeds in these two cases make manifest that the instruments were, in fact, a shift or device whereby the grantor, while apparently creating an estate in another in praesenti, actually held in substance the right of an absolute owner of the property until his death. Downes v.Safe Dep. Tr. Co., 157 Md. 87, 94-96, 145 A. 350.
 The deed in this record falls within none of the classes of documents of title transferring title or ownership of property at the death of the maker and owner, and so, for the reasons here urged, it is submitted, no collateral inheritance tax was collectible. The recent decision of Downes v. Safe. Dep. Tr.Co., 157 Md. 87, 145 A. 350, is in point, and, on principle, authority for this dissent. "When the Legislature saw fit to limit the application of a collateral inheritance tax to property passing from any person `who may die seized and possessed thereof,' it was their purpose not to have the tax apply to other property, if we are to be governed by the plain meaning of the language used, and if at the present time it is thought wise to modify or do away altogether with this limitation, that is a legislative function and not such as the courts are warranted in usurping by judicial decision," is what this court, speaking through Judge Digges, then said should be our guide in construction. 157 Md., page 96, 145 A. 350, 353; Code, art. 81, secs. 124, 135, 136, 139, 143. And applying this rule, this court declared in that case that the section under consideration "does not mean that every *Page 234
 estate conveyed by deed, the beneficial use of which is to take effect in possession after the death of the grantor, is subject to the tax, but only such estates of which the grantor died seized and possessed." 157 Md., page 91, 145 A. 350, 351.
 It must be admitted that the meaning of the act is not clear, but that is all the more reason that the State should not be a favored suitor. There should be no impairment of the wise principle that in the construction of acts imposing taxes the benefit of a doubtful meaning should be accorded the individual.Sutherland on Statutory Construction, secs. 362, 363.
 DIGGES, J., also dissents.


text:
 2.2.2015
 HU
 Az Európai Unió Hivatalos Lapja
 C 34/54
 2014. december 8–án benyújtott kereset – ZZ kontra Bizottság
 (F-137/14. sz. ügy)
 (2015/C 034/67)
 Az eljárás nyelve: német
 Felek
 Felperes: ZZ (képviselő: H. Tettenborn ügyvéd)
 Alperes: Bizottság
 A jogvita tárgya és leírása
 Az Európai Külügyi Szolgálatnak a felperes határozatlan idejű munkaviszonyát megszüntető 2014. január 29-i határozatának megsemmisítése, és a felperesnek okozott erkölcsi és nem vagyoni kár megtérítése.
 Kereseti kérelmek
 A felperes azt kéri, hogy a Közszolgálati Törvényszék
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 semmisítse meg az EKSZ 2014. január 29-i levelével közölt azon határozatát, amely hét hónapos felmondási idővel, 2014. augusztus 31-én éjfélkor bekövetkező hatállyal megszüntette a felperes munkaviszonyát,
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 kötelezze az EKSZ-t a Közszolgálati Törvényszék mérlegelési jogkörében megállapított mértékű, méltányos összegű kártérítés fizetésére a felperesnek az EKSZ 1. sz. kérelemben megnevezett határozatával okozott erkölcsi és nem vagyoni károkért,
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 kötelezze az EKSZ-t a felperesnek okozott vagyoni károk széles körű megtérítésére, különösen az illetményhátralékok és minden egyéb, az EKSZ jogellenes magatartásával a felperesnek okozott költség kifizetése révén (levonva ebből a felperes által kapott munkanélküli ellátás és a munkaereje alkalmazásával szerzett jövedelem összegét),
 másodlagosan, abban az esetben, ha az EKSZ ténybeli vagy jogi indokokból a felperest nem helyezi vissza a munkakörébe, illetve nem alkalmazza tovább az eddigi feltételek mellett, kötelezze az EKSZ-t a felperesnek a munkaviszonya jogellenes megszüntetésével okozott vagyoni kár megtérítésére, amelynek mértéke a ténylegesen várható jövedelem és azon jövedelem összegének különbsége, amelyre a felperes akkor tett volna szert, ha a munkaszerződése nem szűnik meg, figyelembe véve a nyugellátást és egyéb ellátásokat is, és
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 az EKSZ-t kötelezze a költségek viselésére.