CONTENTS. Page. Beneficial effects of the enforcement of the navy-yard regulations. Report of investigation at New York Navy-Yard by Hon. Theodore Extracts from reports of officers at the New York Navy-Yard upon the effect of promotion regulations and the value of efficiency PART IV.-REGULATIONS GOVERNING PROMOTIONS, ETC. REMARKS UPON EXAMINATIONS FOR PROMOTION. Section 7 of the civil-service act provides that no officer or clerk shall be promoted in any of the classes arranged in the classification of a Department until he has passed an examination, or is shown to be specially exempted from such examination, in conformity with the act. No person may, therefore, be legally promoted in the classified service until he has passed an examination, or until it is shown that he is properly exempt therefrom. It will be observed that no classified clerk or employee who is not specially exempted in conformity with the provisions of the act can legally be promoted without examination. In other words, exemption from examination for promotion is not intended to be made general. It is the intention of the law that to be eligible for promotion to any class or place the applicant must have shown fitness on examination appropriate for that class or place. The civilservice act preserved the requirement of an examination in order to be promoted to any class, as well as to enter therein by an original appointment, and established the general rule that to be eligible for appointment to any class (whether by way of promotion or otherwise) the applicant must have passed an examination for the purpose of testing his fitness for the place. Rule XI provides that, in pursuance of the requirements of section 7 of the act, competitive tests or examinations shall, so far as is practicable and useful, be established to test fitness for promotion in any part of the classified service. That rule further provides that the details regulating promotions shall be formulated by the Commission after consultation with the appointing officers. Acting under this authority, the Commission, on June 22, 1896, adopted special regulations governing promotions from subordinate grades to the clerk or copyist grades as follows: 1. DEPARTMENTAL SERVICE. REGULATIONS GOVERNING PROMOTION FROM POSITIONS BELOW THE GRADE OF CLERK OR COPYIST TO GRADES EQUAL TO THE GRADE OF CLERK OR COPYIST IN THE DEPARTMENTS AT WASHINGTON. (Adopted June 22, 1896.) REGULATION I. No employee hitherto designated as a laborer and brought into the classified service by the Executive order of May 6, 1896, and no person holding any other subordinate position below the grade of clerk or copyist shall be promoted to the grade of clerk or copyist until the Civil Service Commission certifies that he is eligible from an examination equal in grade to the examination required for original entrance to the position to which the promotion is proposed. REGULATION II. Competitive examinations shall be provided in accordance with Rule XI for promotions from subordinate positions in the departmental service to grades equal to the grade of clerk or copyist. Until provision is made for ascertaining the office record of competitors in the manner hereinafter provided, the examination shall consist of the clerk-copyist examination or one equal to it in grade. REGULATION III. After service of two years any person who is more than 20 years of age and who occupies a subordinate position, the entrance examination for which is below the grade of clerk-copyist, may file an application with the Commission for promotion, in form and manner to be prescribed, and may be examined. The names of such competitors who obtain a general average of 70 per cent or over shall be entered upon a register of eligibles from which certification for promotions shall be made to the lowest class in the grade for which examined, upon request of the head of the Department, in the same manner as for original entrance to the service. A separate register of eligibles shall be kept for each Department, or the Commission may keep separate registers for one or more bureaus of a Department when requested by such Department. REGULATION IV. Prior to each promotion examination the head of the Department for which the examination is to be held shall furnish a report of the office record of each applicant for promotion, in form and manner to be prescribed by the Commission, from which the relative efficiency of competitors shall be ascertained in accordance with the rules adopted for that purpose. The efficiency record shall be a part of each promotion examination: Provided, That until such records are available the efficiency record may be omitted. On August 28, 1897, the above regulations were amended by the following order: "Ordered, That the limitation of eligibility of one year shall not apply to persons who pass any examination for departmental promotion, and such persons shall be considered as eligible for promotion at the grade attained in the examination, unless they shall request a reexamination at the end of the year for the purpose of improving said grade, in which event they shall, if they pass, be entered upon the register with the new grade attained; but if they fail, they shall be dropped from the register, and will not be allowed a reexamination within one year. "It is also ordered that a person on the eligible register for such promotion shall be entitled to certification as long as he remains on said register, unless after being three times certified the appointing officer shall object in writing to a further consideration of that person's name, in which event said person shall only be certified upon the withdrawal of the objection of the appointing officer." REGULATIONS GOVERNING PROMOTION IN THE OFFICE of the UNITED STATES CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION. In pursuance of the requirement of section 7 of the civil-service act, and in conformity with Rule XI of the civil-service rules, promulgated by the President on the 6th day of May, 1896, the following regulations governing promotions in the force of the Civil Service Commission are hereby promulgated: REGULATION I. All vacancies above those in the lowest class of any grade not filled by reinstatement, transfer, or reduction shall be filled by promotion: Provided, That if there is no person eligible for promotion, or if the vacant position requires the exercise of technical or professional knowledge, it may be filled through certification from the eligible registers. REGULATION II. 1. No person shall be promoted to any grade from which he is barred by the age limitations prescribed by the civil-service rules. 2. No person whose record of efficiency is below 85 per cent of the possible maximum rating of his class or grade shall be eligible for promotion. 3. No person occupying a position below the grade of clerk-copyist shall be promoted to that grade until he shall have been employed two years in the departmental service and shall have passed, with an average percentage of 70 or over, the examination prescribed by the Commission: Prorided, That persons appointed to subordinate grades through certification from the clerk-copyist or equivalent registers may be promoted to the grade of clerk-copyist at any time after appointment. REGULATION III. 1. An examination into the relative efficiency of employees, as shown by the efficiency record hereinafter provided for, and such further tests as the Commission may deem necessary, shall constitute an examination for promotion. No person except as hereinafter provided shall be eligible for promotion until he shall have passed such an examination. 2. Examinations for promotion shall be conducted by the board of promotion at such times as may be fixed by the Commission. REGULATION IV. 1. The chief of each division shall keep a record of the efficiency of all employees under his supervision. 2. The record of efficiency shall be kept on such forms as may be prescribed by the Commission, and shall embrace the elements which are essential to a fair and accurate determination of the relative merits of employees, 3. A record of those eligible for promotion shall be kept by the board of promotion. The board shall have access to efficiency records, and may at any time call for a transcript of the same. 4. The efficiency records shall be open to the inspection of all employees. If an employee questions his efficiency rating he may appeal in writing to the board of promotion. If the board does not sustain the chief of the division a full report of the case shall be filed by the board with the Commission for its decision. FEBRUARY 4, 1897. REGULATIONS GOVERNING PROMOTIONS IN THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT. BUREAU OF ENGRAVING AND PRINTING. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, Washington, D. C., February 20, 1897. Regulation 1. The force of employees in the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, with compensation at a rate less than $900 per annum, excepting clerks and those employees on what is known as the "salary roll," whose compensation is specifically appropriated for by law, shall be separate and distinct in its classification under civil-service rules from the classified service of the Treasury Department proper, but this shall not be construed as taking said force from the control of, and subject to, other rules and regulations made and provided by the Secretary of the Treasury for said Bureau. Regulation 2. Printers' assistants may be promoted at any time after absolute appointment, but not before, to the grade of operative, preference being given to those longest in the service who have been found faithful and efficient and are qualified for such promotion. The same principle shall govern in the advancement of operatives, skilled helpers, and all other employees within the classified service from one grade of compensation to another. |