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A79589 1 (1919-08-25)

handle is hein.gao/gaobadaeg0001 and id is 1 raw text is: DECISIONS OF THE COMrTROILER. This law authorizes the Secretary of War, in his discretion, to . make regulations for the payment of leave granted by law to em- ployees at arsenals where such leave is not granted and the em- ployees perform. duty on the days they might have been granted leave. It gives to the employee no vested right to thirteen months' pay for twelve monthE' work. Nor does it authorize the employee, himself, to determine whether he will take leave or collect an addi- tional month's pay. Should conditions warrant, the Secretary of War could, by proper regulations, deny all leave; that is, for practical purposes, suspend the law granting leave and in lieu increase the pay of the operatives by one-twelfth. The employees' rights under the act of July 9, 1918, are subject to the exercise of this discretion by the Secretary of War; and the employee's failure to apply for and be granted leave does not give rise to a valid claim for pay therefor by virtue of the act. No general regulations issued under the authority of the act of July 9, 1918, are known to this office, and in the absence thereof Miss Schnell can assert no rights under the act. You are therefore advised that payment to Miss Schnell for leave earned but not taken prior to her separation from the service at the Quartermaster's depot at Jeffersonville, Ind., is not authorized. TRAVELING EXPENSES-PER DIEM IN LIED OF SUBSISTENCE. -Where travel regulations provide that a per diem in lieu of subsistence will be allowed only for continuous absence froin official headquarters exceeding six hours each day, an employee absent from headquarters a total of more than six hours each day, but who reports to headquarters at intervals during the ol:y so as to redune his continuous absence to less than six hours, Is in the status of nn employee operating from a central office to near-by points in the surrounding country, the cost of transportation only being paid and is not entitled to per dienu in lieu of subsistence. Decision by Assistant Comptroller Foree, August 21, 1919: Moses Sonnenberg applied Juie 28, 1919, for a revision of the action of the Auditor for the State and Other Departrments in dis- allowing by certificate 18148, dated May 5, 1919, his claim for $44 for 11 per diems at $4 during October and November, 1918. The appellant was in the employ of the United States fuel adminis6 trator for Westchester County, N. Y. The headquarters were at White Plains, from which place appellant was sent on trips to va- rious other points in the county. On the dates involved in the appeal appellant, in going from one point in the county to another, had to pass through White Plains, his headquarters, and was required to 154 Unless an appropriation act In express terms authorizes a department or establishment of the Government to rent or lease buildings in the District of Columbia, the matter of obtaining quarters in the District of Columbia is for the consideration of the Public Buildings Commission, created by ,sec- tion 10 of the act of March 1, 1919, 40 Stnt., 1269, with power to control and allot space in all owned or leased Government buildings in the Dis- trict of Columbia with certain exceptions therein mentioned. .The provision for leases in the act of July 19, 1919, 41 Stat., 175, making appropriation for the Public -elith Service, is not so specificnily an author- ity to rent quarters in the District of Columbia as meets the requirements of the act of March 3, 1877, 19 Stat., 370, or in such express terms as to except the Public Health Service froni the operation of section 10 of the act of March 1, 1919, 40 Stat., 1260, creating the Public Buildings CoM- mission. L. DECISTONS OF THE COMPTROLLER. 155 stop at the office on such occasions and report the results of his inves- tigations to that hour and then proceed to the next point to be visited. The auditor disillowed the claim on the ground that the travel regulations of the United States Fuel Administration allowed a per diem only for continuous absence from official headquarters exceed- ing six hours. On each of the days in question appellant's absence from White Plains, counting from his first departure in the morning to his last return in the evening, exceeded six hours, the greatest period of ab- sence being 7 hours and 45 minutes on November 14, and the shortest period of absence 6 hours and 30 minutes on October 1.4. On the latter date lie was in White Plains and at the office of the fuel ad- ministrator twice during the day and on November 14 once during the day. These are typical of the other days involved. It would appear, therefore, that on the days in question he was more nearly in the status of an employee operating from a central office to near-by points in the surrounding country, the cost of trans- portation only being paid, rather than in the travel status of an em- ployee away from his official station for such a period of time as would cause the incurring of living expenses over and above those which he would be otherwise required to bear. This distinction seems to have been the purpose of the rule requiring a continuous absence of six hours or more from official station to entitle an employee to a per diem. The auditor's construction of the regulations appears to be correct; his action is therefore affirmed, and a certificate of no differences will issue. LEASE OF BUILDINGS IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

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