EMPLOYEES OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

Police Court Employees.-The retirement act applies to employees of the police court of the District of Columbia. (C. S. C. Min., September 9, 1920.)

Employees of Probation Officer.-The retirement act does not apply to employees of the office of the probation officer, Supreme Court of the District of Columbia. (C. S. C. Min., November 15, 1920.)

Charwomen Entitled to Benefits.-A charwoman who is a regular annual employee of the municipal government of the District of Columbia is entitled to the benefits of the retirement act, although charwomen in the executive civil service are not classified. The act includes all regular annual employees of the municipal government of the District of Columbia, with the exceptions noted therein, and charwomen are not within those exceptions. (Actg. Com. of Pensions, August 6, 1920, Eliza C. Pierson, R-315.)

Police Matron Entitled to Benefits.A police matron is not a member of the police department of the District of Columbia but a civilian employee of said department, and is therefore entitled to the benefits of the retirement act.

Officers and members of the police and fire departments are subject to retirement with pension under the provisons of an act of Congress relating specifically to those departments and a monthly deduction is made from their respective salaries and credited to the retirement fund from which the pensions are payable. No deduction is made from the salaries of the civilian employees of those departments and they are not entitled to retirement with pension under the act of Congress referred to. (Auditor, District of Columbia, September 4, 1920, Sarah R. Pennifill, R-330.)

Intermittent Day Labor Service Does Not Confer Title.-A day laborer employed for two periods of about three months each in the street cleaning department of the District of Columbia

between September 1, 1920, and June 16, 1921, after prior intermittent services in the parking commission, District of Columbia, and the United States Public Health Service, does not possess title to annuity under the act of May 22, 1920, for two reasons. First, such employee's service was not that of a regular annual employee or that of a per diem employee whose service was of a continuous character as contemplated by paragraph 3, section 1, of the retirement act, and in the second place, said employee was past retirement age and was not in the service when said act became effective on August 20, 1920. (Asst. Secy. Int., January 18, 1923, David Streeks, docket No. 238, claim R-9959.)

Intermittent Past Service of Day Laborer Not to be Credited. A recipient of annuity under the act of May 22, 1920, based upon service as a skilled laborer in the United States Botanic Gardens can not be credited for intermittent service as a day laborer in the street cleaning department of the District of Columbia between 1900 and 1905 for the purpose of obtaining increase in his rate of annuity. It was held by the Assistant Secretary of the Interior that the additional service claimed could be allowed only by invoking the provisions of the third paragraph of section 1 of the retirement act in its entirety and by excluding the broad provisions of section 3 of said act in according credit for United States service. It was held that said paragraph clearly recognizes service as a result of an appointment to a position of a permanent character, continuous, regular, annual, not broken intermittent service such as is contemplated in the employment or hiring of street cleaners by the day, which force is usually of a shifting character and whose tenure of office is uncertain and irregular. (Asst. Secy. Int., January 20, 1923, Henry Thomas, C. S. No. 39.)

Recorder of Deeds Office, D. C., Service in, not to be Credited. In the case of an annuitant who sought credit for service

as a copyist in the office of the recorder of deeds in 1892 and 1893 for the purpose of obtaining a higher annuity rate the Assistant Secretary of the Interior held as follows (after a thorough review of matters involving the status of said office), in affirming the action of the bureau in excluding the service in question: "Upon mature consideration this department is of opinion that employees in the office of the recorder of deeds for the District of Columbia, who are paid out of emoluments of the office without any appropriation for that purpose are employees of the recorder and not within the operation of the act providing for payment of annuities to certain classes of employees of the United States Government and of the government of the District of Columbia. They

are subject to employment and discharge at the pleasure of the recorder and are paid by him out of the fees collected by his office for services rendered. Their status appears to be closely analogous to that of a deputy marshal under former law and procedure whereby the deputy was paid by the marshal out of the fees of his office," citing the case of Larkin (21 P. & R. Dec. 42), in which the department declined to credit the period of service as a deputy marshal in computation of service under section 3 of the retirement act, citing certain early decisions of the United States Courts and of the Comptroller of the Treasury as authority for such refusal. (Asst. Secy. Int., January 20, 1923, Bismarck R. Pinchback, C. S. No. 38.)

POSTMASTERS.

Exclusion Confined to Present Status. Although postmasters are excluded from the benefits of the retirement act, an employee who was a post office clerk at the date of retirement is entitled to credit for past service rendered by him as postmaster. The exclusion refers to the class or group mentioned in section 1 as occupying a particular status at date of retirement, but does not extend to the past service mentioned in section 3 of the act (Asst. Secy. Int., September 11, 1920, William H. Goodloe, 21 P. & R. Dec. 38.)

Acting Postmasters not Included.The retirement act does not apply to acting postmasters and deductions should not be made from the salary of an acting postmaster. Should a classified employee be transferred to the position of acting postmaster, he may, upon retransfer to a classified position, by making proper deposit of funds, receive the benefits of

the retirement act. (C. S. C. Min., April 21, 1921.)

ACT OF JUNE 20, 1918 (SEC. 6).

Section 6 of the act of June 20, 1918, referred to in the retirement act, provides as follows:

That hereafter all officers and employees engaged in the field service or on vessels of the Lighthouse Service, except persons continuously employed in district offices or shops, who shall have reached the age of sixty-five years, after having been thirty years in the active service of the Government, may at their option be retired from further performance of duty; and all such officers and employees who shall have reached the age of seventy years shall be compulsorily retired from further performance of duty: Provided, That the annual compensation of persons so retired shall be a sum equal to one-fortieth of the average annual pay received for the last five years of service for each year of active service in the Lighthouse Service or in a department or branch of the Government having a retirement system, not to exceed in any case thirty-fortieths of such average annual pay received: Provided further, That such retirement pay shall not include any amount on account of subsistence or other allowance. (40 Stat. 608.)

CLASSIFICATIONS AND RATES.

Ten Year Basis Construed.-In determining the average annual basic salary, pay, or compensation of an employee in the classified civil service for the period of 10 years preceding retirement, under the act of May 22, 1920 (41 Stat. 614), which is to form the basis for computing the amount of pension, the 10 years of actual service immediately preceding retirement, whether tinuous or otherwise, must be included. (26 Comp. Dec. 1079.)

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Employees' Compensation Act, Effect of.—If an employee of the Government receives no basic salary, pay, or compensation other than the compensation under an injured Federal employees' compensation act, for the period involved in the 10 years preceding retirement under the act of May 22, 1920 (41 Stat. 614), the employee's basic salary, pay, or compensation on which the injured compensation was allowed should be taken as the basic salary, pay, or compensation for the period involved and included in ascertaining the average for the 10 years preceding retirement on the basis of which the amount of pension is to be determined. (26 Comp. Dec. 1079.)

Temporary Employee, No Deductions From. Where an employee of the Government having a permanent place in the service is employed temporarily in another place at the same time, the compensation of such temporary employment is not authorized to be taken into consideration in determining the annuity class of the employee under the act of May 22, 1920 (41 Stat. 614), providing for the retirement of employees in the classified civil service, but only the compensation of the permanent place, and accordingly retirement deductions from the compensation of the temporary place are not required to be made. (26 Comp. Dec. 1079; see also Op. Sol. Int. Dept. and Asst. Secy. Int., September 30, 1922.)

More Than One Permanent Position, Deductions Required.-Where a permanent employee has more than one permanent position in the classified civil service the combined compensation of which is not within the $2,000 prohibition of the act of May 10, 1916, as amended (39 Stat. 120, 582), the combined com

pensation has its bearing on the annuity class under which the employee may be retired under the act of May 22, 1920 (41 Stat. 614), and retirement deductions should be made from the compensation of each of such permanent positions. (26 Comp. Dec. 1079.)

Seasonal Employees, Service Construed.--A navigation season employee navigation season each year, is to be in the Customs Service employed for the

credited with continuous service where the period of inactivity (or furlough) is not in excess of six months, and in determining the average basic pay, etc., the rate of pay or compensation received by him at the inception of the period of seasonal inactivity is to be included in fixing his average basic pay or compensation during the 10-year period. (Asst. Secy. Int., May 10, 1921, John F. Gooding, R-4252.)

Term "Basic Salary, Pay, or Compensation" Construed. Regular or permanent salary, pay, or compensation of employees in the classified civil service, exclusive of all allowances, overtime pay, or fiscal-year increases and bonuses given in addition thereto, is to be considered the "basic salary, pay, or compensation" of said employees within the meaning of the retirement act of May 22, 1920 (41 Stat. 614), on which the amount of the annuity or pension is to be computed. (27 Comp. Dec. 152.)

MISCELLANEOUS PRACTICE,

Leave of Absence and Separation Generally, Effect of.-Section 3 provides that in computing length of service all periods of separation from the service, and so much of any period of leave of absence as may exceed six months, shall be excluded. In ascertaining basic pay, etc., for the 10-year period of service next preceding date of retirement, all periods of separation and all leave in excess of six months are made up by using so much of the service immediately preceding the last 10 years of elapsed time as is needed to give the necessary 10 years of actual service.

Leave of Absence Less than Six Months, Effect of. An employee who may be on leave of absence for one or more periods not exceeding six months during the 10