DEPARTMENT REGULATIONS.

SEC. 2.-1. Records to be kept in bureaus; time clerks.-Records of leaves of absence shall be kept in the chief clerk's office of each bureau of the Department; and a time clerk shall be designated to keep such records in each bureau. Leave shall be granted to cmployees of the Office of the Secretary upon approval of the Chief Clerk.

2. Interpretation of regulations. Questions of interpretation of regulations governing leaves of absence and questions not covered by these regulations shall be submitted to the Chief Clerk for decision.

3. Application for leave.-Application for leave of absence shall be made upon a printed form applicable to all bureaus of the Department. A supply of these forms will be furnished by the Division of Publications and Supplies.

4. Form of application. The form of application for leave of absence shall specify the beginning and ending (both dates inclusive) of the period for which such leave is desired. It must contain memoranda of all previous absences of the applicant during the calendar year then current, which memoranda shall be prepared and signed or initialed by the time clerk of the bureau. The application must bear the signature of the applicant, the recommendation of the chief of division or office in which the applicant is serving, and the approval of the chief of bureau.

5. Form of application for annual leave for less than a day.— Absence for a period less than a day may be granted upon an application form bearing the signature of the applicant, recommendation of the official in charge, and the approval of the chief or chief clerk of the bureau. A supply of these forms will be furnished by the Division of Publications and Supplies. Applications for annual leave must be made in advance, and all partial-day absences on annual leave will be charged in periods of 15 minutes and multiples thereof.

6. Record of absence.—A record of leaves of absence for each employee shall be kept by the time clerk of each bureau. Certified monthly reports of absence of all employees serving in or by direct detail from the District of Columbia will be made to the Secretary on the form provided for that purpose. All applications for leave shall be preserved by the time clerk of each bureau for a period of three years.

7. New employees. Regular employees who have been in the service of the Department for less than a year, including those reinstated, may be granted annual and sick leave of absence at the rate of two and one-half days per month of service: Provided, however, That persons transferred from other departments may be

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allowed transfer of accrued leave upon statement received from the department or bureau from which the transfer is made showing the amount of leave due at the time of transfer.

8. Probationary employees. Probationary employees, after service of two months, may be granted leaves of absence at the rate of two and one-half days a month, computed from the date of beginning of appointment.

9. Temporary employees.-Temporary employees, after service of two months, may be granted leave of absence at the rate of two and one-half days a month, the whole period of duty to be considered in determining the amount to which said employee is entitled.

10. Per diem employees. Per diem employees shall not be granted leave of absence with pay if their appointments state salary "for days actually employed," or if their employment is temporary. If per diem rate is simply a measure of salary and they are regularly and continuously employed without limitation, they are entitled to leave of absence the same as those with annual or monthly rates of salary.

11. Allowance of leave confined to current year.-Leaves of absence are not cumulative; employees who are unable to avail themselves of leave within the calendar year will not be entitled to it, or any portion thereof, in a subsequent year, nor will leave be granted to be used in one year and charged to a subsequent year.

12. Only accrued leave allowed on resignation, etc.-On separation from the Department by resignation, dismissal, or transfer, employees may be allowed only accrued leave at the rate of two and one-half days for each month of service since the first of the calendar year, but the Department will consider a recommendation for the waiver of this provision when the person concerned has been in the executive civil service for three years or more, or when there are especially meritorious reasons why an exception should be made.

13. Sundays and holidays. Sundays and legal holidays and holidays by Executive order or other competent authority, whether for the whole or part of a day, at the beginning or end of any kind of leave, or within a period of annual leave, will not be counted as leave; but those which occur within (but not at the beginning or end of) a period of sick leave or leave without pay will be counted.

14. Saturday afternoons in summer. Saturdays from June 15 to September 15, inclusive, will be charged as four hours in annual leave and as a whole day in sick and without-pay leave.

15. Office hours.-The hours of labor, unless otherwise specially ordered, shall begin at 9 o'clock a. m. and close at 4.30 p. m., with one-half hour between 12 m. and 1 p. m. for luncheon, the particular half hour within that period in the different bureaus or offices to be

designated by the chiefs thereof. All employees shall be required to strictly observe the office hours.

In the interests of the service, so that all the employees in important offices shall not be absent at the same time, chief clerks may vary the time for luncheon of different employees.

16. Distribution of leave. In no case shall administrative officers recommend or approve the granting of leave on account of annual leave when to allow it will cause embarrassment to the service; and leave should be distributed or allotted to employees, if necessary, in the months when the work of the office will be least affected.

17. Leave revocable.-Leave of absence may be revoked at any time and the employee ordered to return to duty before its expiration should the exigencies of the service require it.

18. Application in advance.-Application must be made in advance of the date of the beginning of the leave on the blank form provided therefor by the Department, and no applicant for annual leave will be permitted to be absent from duty until notification has been received of the granting of the same.

19. Consecutive days only.-Application should be made for only the number of consecutive days desired.

20. Luncheon half hour deducted in partial-day absence.-The luncheon half hour is deducted from annual leave for part of a day when it occurs during the absence, as from 11 a. m. to 3 p. m., which should be charged as three and one-half hours and not as four hours.

21. Deduction from annual leave for absence without pay.-Proportionate deduction from annual leave shall be made at the rate of 1 day for each 12 days and multiples thereof of furlough or leave without pay.

22. No leave granted for less than 15 minutes.-Absence less than 15 minutes will be charged as 15 minutes; and absence in excess of 15 minutes will be charged in multiples of 15 minutes.

23. Time of departure and return of employee to be noted. Any administrative officer who shall receive notification from the chief clerk of bureau that leave of absence has been granted to any employee under his supervision will note the exact time of the departure of such person and the exact time of his return to duty, and return application blank promptly to the chief clerk or time clerk of the bureau.

24. Conditions governing granting of sick leave.-Applications for sick leave must be submitted within five days after return to duty, and if the leave applied for exceeds three days the application must be supported by a certificate of the attending physician, who must be a duly authorized practitioner. Sick leave may be granted upon any one of the following conditions: (a) Where some member of the

immediate family of a clerk or employee is afflicted with a contagious disease and requires the care and attendance of such employee. (b) Where through exposure to contagious disease, whether in his own family or not, the employee's presence in the Department would jeopardize the health of fellow clerks. (c) In exceptional and meritorious cases where a clerk or employee is personally ill and where to limit the annual leave to 30 days in any one year would work peculiar hardship. Condition (c) is made up of a group of facts or circumstances which must combine to authorize the granting of leave on account of personal illness. The case must be (1) exceptional, (2) meritorious, and (3) such that a denial of the leave would work not ordinary but peculiar hardship. What will in this connection constitute an "exceptional" case, a "meritorious" case, and "peculiar hardship" can not be defined in any general rule, but must depend the exercise of a reasonable discretion in the consideration of the circumstances.

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25. Sick leave may be granted before annual leave.-Extension of annual leave on account of sickness may be granted at any time during the year, even though no annual leave shall have been granted at the time of such extension.

26. Sick-leave applications.-Applications for extension of annual leave on account of sickness shall be prepared upon the form provided by the Department for that purpose and supported by a physician's certificate if the extension requested exceeds three days. Sick leave for three days or less shall also be supported by certificate of attending physician if one was employed; otherwise a brief statement indicating the absence of medical attention will be received and considered but not necessarily accepted. The limit of sick leave without medical certificate in support of the application shall not exceed 15 days per annum.

27. Not less than one-half day granted. Sick leave will not be granted for less than one-half day; absence for less than one-half day shall be charged against annual leave.

28. Slight ailments. Slight ailments or indisposition will not be accepted as sufficient cause for allowing sick leave; such absences should be charged to annual leave.

29. Absentees must report fact within 24 hours.-An employee absent on account of personal illness must immediately report the fact to the chief clerk of the bureau in which employed. If such report is not made within 24 hours, the time lost may be charged to annual leave or leave without pay.

30. Application must be made within five days.-Application for sick leave must be made within five days after the return of the employee to duty.

31. Quarantine.-When an employee has been exposed to a contagious disease against which the medical authorities quarantine the

patient he should immediately file with the chief clerk of the bureau in which employed a certificate from the attending physician, where one is engaged, stating that in his judgment the presence of the employee in the office would jeopardize the health of fellow clerks. Application for leave with pay for the time lost must be accompanied by a certificate of the attending physician certifying that all danger from contagion has passed.

32. Modifying annual leave to sick leave.-No modification of annual to sick leave will be made unless sickness begins on or before the first day of the period granted as annual leave, when the latter may be surrendered and sick leave granted instead under the usual limitations.

33. Deduction from allowance because of leave without pay.—Proportionate deduction from sick leave shall be made at the rate of 1 day for each 12 days and multiples thereof of furlough or leave without pay. This applies also to reinstated employees in regard to the period of their separation from the Department in the current year.

34. Investigation.-The chief of bureau shall carefully consider, in so far as allegations of actual sickness or exposure to contagion is concerned, the merits of every application for an extension of leave with pay beyond 30 days, and shall cause to be investigated those employees who habitually apply for excessive sick leave and report to the Secretary any abuse of the privilege.

35. Penalties for deception.-All employees will be held to a strict accountability for statements made by them of inability to perform duty. When sick leave has been granted and subsequent developments prove that it was obtained by misrepresentation it will be charged to leave without pay, even if the offender has annual leave still due. A second attempt to mislead or deceive official superiors, directly or indirectly, in regard to absence on account of alleged sickness will be deemed sufficient cause for dismissal.

36. Appointment terminated "without prejudice"; reinstatement.— When an employee has been absent for more than 60 days and there is no probability of his immediate return to duty, his appointment may be terminated "without prejudice." Such employee, however, will be eligible for reinstatement at any time within one year from the date of separation from the service.

37. Not a right, but a favor.-Leave without pay is not be be considered as a right. It may be allowed on account of sickness when the regular leave has been exhausted, but otherwise it will be granted only when, in the opinion of the Secretary, the public business will not suffer by the absence and when reasonable cause is shown, such as important business or emergencies of a serious nature.