Mr. HARE. And, in addition, overtime if it should be allowed? Mr. HARE. That is what we would like to have the justification for. ADDITIONAL CLERK FOR THE IMMEDIATE OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY Mr. DODSON. In the immediate office of the Secretary we are requesting an increase of $7,245; $1,800 is requested to provide one clerk-stenographer to serve the United States representative to the International Labor Organization. The United States representative to the International Labor Organization is paid from funds which have been provided in the Department's budget for some time. The work of that organization since the last meeting in Philadelphia has grown to such an extent, which the Secretary talked about in some detail Tuesday, that the United States representative has requested that he be given a full-time secretary to help him with his work. So $1,800 of the $7,245 is requested for that purpose. Mr. HARE. What was the appropriation for that International Labor Organization last year? Mr. DODSON. Approximately $3,800 required to pay the salary of this man for the time that he works, and that same amount is continued on in this estimate. Mr. HARE. And then you are asking for a clerk-stenographer at $1,800. Mr. DODSON. To assist him. Mr. HARE. All right. Mr. DODSON. The balance of the increase, $5,360, will provide for filling on a full annual basis positions which have been filled for less than a full year during the fiscal year 1945. Mr. HARE. Were those positions there last year? Mr. DODSON. Yes, sir. The only additional new job in the immediate office of the Secretary is the $1,800 job. (The justification referred to is as follows:) Revised justification estimate for 1946 ! Balance of appropriation for office of Solicitor included under that Bureau's estimate. Working fund of $50,680 (base) made available by the National War Labor Board for wage stabilization services performed by the Department is included as a part of the National War Labor Board estimates before its own subcommittee. ADDITIONAL PERSONNEL FOR OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR OF INFORMATION Mr. DODSON. In the office of the Director of Information we are requesting two jobs, one at $4,600 and a clerk-stenographer at $1,800. The purpose of the $4,600 position is to permit us to use a technique which was developed originally in the Wage and Hour Division; that is, of supplying articles, mainly to trade journals and magazines, to acquaint them with the work of the Department of Labor as it may be helpful to their readers. In connection with the wage-and-hour work we found it was very helpful in acquainting trades with certain technical provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. We have, as a result of our experience in the Wage and Hour Division, detailed to the Office of Information at the departmental level an employee to experiment with the application of this technique to the work of the other bureaus. Mr. KEEFE. What office are you now talking about? Mr. DODSON. I am talking about the office of the Secretary. Mr. DODSON. The specific item is the increase for the office of the Mr. DODSON. That is correct, sir; and I am talking about the one professional person that is requested which would extend the technique of furnishing articles to trade and labor journals, of which I am told there are more than 8,000 in the country, articles which they would be interested in, pertaining to the work of the Department of Labor. We do not go off and just write articles on a wholesale basis. We contact these trade journals, we find out what is bothering them with regard to our work what type of an article they would be interested in receiving which would help to explain to their workers and associates the problem that is bothering them in connection with any of the laws or any of the work of the Department of Labor. The $1,800 clerk-stenographer would service the $4,600 professional worker. ADDITIONAL EMPLOYEE FOR THE LIBRARY Mr. DODSON. In the library we are requesting one additional position, a CAF-4 position, at $1,800. The library has not had an increase in its appropriation for 3 years, yet the Department's library of 275 volumes Mr. KEEFE. 275 volumes? Mr. DODSON. 275,000 volumes-is considered to be one of the largest social and economic libraries of its kind. The library has annually more than 4,600 requests for information, many of them from the people in the war agencies, agencies outside of the Department of Labor. This increase is essential to provide one additional person to permit the cataloging of material so that it can be readily found upon request. Mr. KEEFE. How many people do you have there now in the library? Mr. DODSON. The library has 20 positions paid from regular funds, and 2 from national defense funds. We are requesting 21 positions from regular funds and the continuation of the 2 on national defense funds. TRANSFER OF EMPLOYEES OF OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR OF PERSONNEL TO SECRETARY'S ROLL Mr. DODSON. The next item for which we are requesting an increase is the office of the Director of Personnel. This is not an increase for new positions. It is a transfer of employees to the pay roll of the Office of the Secretary who are now paid from working funds made available to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. These working funds have now been transferred to a regular appropriation to the Bureau of Labor Statistics and included in the estimates which we have just discussed, and in order to bring the budget of the office of the Director of Personnel in line with that of the Bureau of Labor Statistics we have asked that those positions formerly paid from working funds now be paid from funds to be appropriated to the Office of the Secretary. In other words, it is the same thing that Mr. Hinrichs talked about this morning. Mr. HARE. It will not be duplicated in the Bureau of Labor Statistics? Mr. DODSON. No, sir; it will not be. Mr. HARE. Is that a national defense or a regular item? Mr. DODSON. Well, it should be a national defense item in keeping with our understanding of this morning concerning the Bureau of Labor Statistics increase and we will insert a revised table similar to the one requested for the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Mr. HARE. And so marked? Mr. DODSON. Yes, sir. DUTIES AND OPERATIONS OF THE OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR OF PERSONNEL Mr. HARE. Mr. Smith, we would like to have a report on personnel matters in the Department. Mr. SMITH. Mr. Chairman, I am very glad to give the committee a report on the progress we have made and some of the work we are doing at the present time, so that you may know how the money you have appropriated is being spent. The office of the Director of Personnel, which is a part of the office of the Secretary, is responsible for personnel administration in the departmental service and in all the field units of the Department of Labor. This broad responsibility includes the following functions: Classifying positions on the basis of duties and responsibilities in accordance with the Classification Act of 1923, as amended; maintaining the promotional policy of the Department under which vacant positions are filled insofar as possible by promotion of qualified employees already in the Department; dealing with the Civil Service Commission in an attempt to obtain candidates to fill vacant positions for which no one in the Department is qualified for promotion; investigating the past records of candidates for positions; administering the efficiency rating program within the Department; constantly surveying the skills of employees of the Department to make sure 71926-45-pt. 1 that each employee is being used at his highest skill; determining when questions of release of employees of the Department are posed whether such release in the light of the other position offered the employee would handicap the war program; assuring employees of the rights to which they are entitled under the civil-service laws, as well as the policies of the Department; assure compliance by the Department with its responsibilities as to the rights of returning veterans and taking an affirmative action toward the sound placement of those veterans; and seeing that all personnel services, transactions, and dealings with employees are consummated in accordance with the provisions of law and in the interest of effective and economical administration of the Department with full justice to the employees. The personnel work of all agencies of the Federal Government has been increased considerably by the extreme difficulty during the past 3 years in obtaining qualified individuals to fill vacancies created by turn-over, including vacancies created by the induction of the Department's employees into the military service. The new personnel legislation and changing rules, regulations, and procedures of the War Manpower Commission, the Civil Service Commission, and other agencies whose decisions affect personnel actions have also increased the work load of personnel units in the Government. In spite of the increased work load brought about in large measure by wartime conditions, the personnel activities have been maintained at the increased tempo of the Department. New organizational structures to meet specific war aims have been created as new programs have been approved by the Congress for the constituent bureaus, new positions established and allocated in those programs, and the appointment and placement of qualified personnel under difficult conditions has been expedited as much as possible. New internal procedures have been developed to facilitate operations and to adapt the Department's personnel administration to changing over-all Government requirements. This has been possible because we have had a reasonable basic appropriation and sufficient allotments from working funds. Present indications offer no prospect of relief from the heavy volume of work the Office of the Director of Personnel has been handling. Expanded opportunities in the Federal service and in private industry have increased the difficulties in recruiting and in retaining qualified personnel, and normal sources of recruiting have been curtailed. It is necessary to broaden to a considerable degree the search for an applicant to fill a job. We must also give considerable care and attention to safeguarding the rights of returning veterans. Over 1,400 former employees of the Department of Labor have been inducted into the military service and have been guaranteed restoration to their former status if certain rather easy conditions are met, provided, of course, they desire such restoration. The Congress has also given to the veterans never employed in the Government or Department very definite preference when vacant positions are to be filled. To comply with the spirit of the legislation, we have gone beyond the legal requirements in making administrative provision for the employment and reemployment of veterans as provided by the several acts of the Congress. Carrying out in good faith these laws relating to veterans involves a number of administrative problems. Some arise from the necessity for making provision that the legal_requirements are promptly and strictly followed in all parts of the Department of Labor; some arise from the changes in structure and organization of the Department that have taken place and will continue to take place since the veterans left their jobs. When the Department's programs alter materially during the reconversion period, we expect that individual jobs will change to an even greater extent. Some arise from the changes that have taken place in the veterans themselves since they left their civilian employment; some arise in the vocational appraisals involved in restoring veterans to their former jobs. To make sure that, as far as the Department of Labor is concerned, the veterans are treated as the Congress has directed and as all of us desire, we have made arrangments for centralizing in the Department in the Office of the Director of Personnel the responsibility for assuring that veterans are given all their legal rights and that every effort is made to deal with their cases promptly with a sincere recognition of the obligations of the Department to them and with the spirit of helpfulness during their adjustment to civilian life. All applications of veterans for restoration to their former positions in the Department or for original employment in the Department are referred at the outset to one of my assistants. Every effort is then made to determine the veteran's employment desires and using our best judgment to determine whether vocationally and physically he is qualified to do the kind of work he desires to undertake. Up to the present time, of course, the number of returning veterans has not been great; but we feel each veteran coming back now or applying to the Department for the first time, is entitled to the same personal consideration. As in the future more veterans return, we expect that the work load will increase proportionately and we hope by that time to have developed and refined to an even greater degree our procedures for the speedy assimilation of these men in civilian activity which is satisfactory to them and in which they can make a satisfactory contribution. In many cases, mere restoration to the veteran's former position will not constitute a satisfactory adjustment. Many returning veterans, it is evident, will have developed, because of their military experience, and will be qualified to do more difficult and responsible work than before. Some unfortunately will suffer physical injuries. which may incapacitate them for their former work. Some will have major or minor problems in adjusting themselves to a civilian work environment after intensive training for and service in a military work environment. It is obvious, too, that when a vocational choice for a veteran has been made, the supervisor under whom he is to work must cooperate in making the veteran a vocational success. We have in sight no panacea for dealing with these vocational and human problems, but we are giving them earnest attention and bringing to bear all of our resources in providing the best common-sense solution, which we can work out. We feel confident that as far as the Department of Labor is concerned, the returning men and women, whether formerly employed in the Department and desiring restoration or coming to us for the first time seeking employment, are going to be treated fairly and with complete consideration. |