The Federal Civil Service Retirement Law
| Published date | 01 May 1924 |
| Date | 01 May 1924 |
| Author | John T. Doyle |
| DOI | 10.1177/000271622411300145 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
330
THE
ANNALS
OF
THE
AMERICAN
ACADEMY
hoping
the
remainders
will
make
it
up
somehow;
it
will
avoid
saving
salaries
and
sacrificing
all
chance
for
structural
improvements;
it
will
aim
specifically
at
the
Internal
Goodwill
Account,-
the
most
difficult
and
most
profitable
field
for
economies.
In
short,
any
measures
of
economy
in
large
govern-
ment
departments
must
take
into
full
account
the
basic
principles
of
person-
nel
management
or
they
are
fully
as
likely
to
waste
as
to
save.
The
Federal
Civil
Service
Retirement
Law
By
JOHN
T.
DOYLE
Secretary,
United
States
Civil
Service
Commission
THE
soldier
bonus
and
military
pensions
have
lost
somewhat
of
their
high
estate
in
patriotic
fervor.
The
heart
of
the nation
is
still
warm
in
gratitude
to
those
who
served
on
the
field
of
battle
or
in
sheltered
depart-
mental
duty;
but
there
is
a
failure
in
tangible
means
of
expression.
Mili-
tary
pensions
never
had
a
scientific
basis,
and
the
Federal
Retirement
Act
of
May
22,
1920,
providing
annuities
for
the
old
age
of
more
than
400,000
civil
employes,
is
lacking
in
protection
and
forethought.
The
nature
of
the
federal
retirement
system
needs
to
be
studied
so
that
enormous
obligations
will
not
be
unwisely
incurred,
and
safe-
guards
devised
for
its
administration
in
order
that
gratuities
will
not
be
handed
out
indiscriminately
nor
the
younger
employes
unduly
taxed
for
the
support
of
annuitants.
METHODS
AND
REQUIREMENTS
The
Federal
Retirement
Law
pro-
vides’
a
method
of
co-operation
among
the
employes
under
the
benevolent
administration
of
the
Government
with
the
implication
that
the
Government
will
in
time
make
good
the
inevitable
deficiency.
The
method
has
the
vice
of
the
old
tontine
system
in
postponing
a
reckoning.
The
law
was
drafted
by
the
employes
after
a
third
of
a
century
of
effort
with
Congress,
and
of
necessity
represents
a
compromise
between
the
conflicting
views
of
the
younger
and
older
employes
on
the
one
hand
and
certain
prejudices
of
Congress
on
the
other.
The
Retirement
Act
applies
to
classi-
fied
permanent
employes,
including
those
who
are
in
excepted
positions
with
a
classified
status;
laborers
who
are
subject
to
labor
regulations;
em-
ployes
of
the
Superintendent
of
the
Capitol,
Library
of
Congress,
Botanic
Gardens,
and
municipal
government
of
the
District
of
Columbia.
It
requires
deductions
of
21 2
per
cent
from
salaries,
and
provides
annuities
not
exceeding
$’~~0
per
annum,
the
amount
depending
upon
length
of
service
and
average
salary
for
the
last
ten
years.
No
employe
can
draw
annuity
who
has
not
served
fifteen
years.
Total
disability
not
due
to
mis-
conduct
entitles
to
annuity
as
does
in-
voluntary
separation
of
employes
fifty-five
years
of
age.
Mechanics,
city
and
rural
carriers
and
post-office
clerks
are
eligible
for
retirement
at
sixty-five,
railway
postal
clerks
at
sixty-two,
and
all
others
at
seventy.
A
refund
of
all
deductions
with
in-
terest
is
due
to
any
employe
or
his
legal
representative
if
he
passes
out
from
1
For
a
digest
of
this
law
see
page
343,—
EDITOR.
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