Agitation for a reversal of the
ruling just rendered by the Controller
General that temporary Government
employes are not entitled to annual
leave with pay will accomplish noth
i lng, isasmuch as the decisions of
that official cannot be revoked or
overturned by executive action. They
are the last word In Federal fiscal
decision .under the laws as they stand.
The only way to obtain relief from
the condition thus imposed upon the
temporary employes is to secure an
enactment which definitely grants the
departmental workers of this class the
privilege of annual vacations. Such
an enactment was obtained in ths
case of the temporary employes of
the District, in the form of a para
graph in the District appropriation
act, repeated in each annual budget
ary law.
The status of the temporary, or
per diem, employes has always been
somewhat vague, as regards privileges
and prerogatives. They are workers
for whoso employment there is no
definite appropriates authority, but
who are engaged whenever occasion
requires and paid out of lump sums
provided to meet such emergencies.
They may be on th© pay rolls for a
month, for two, for six or for twelve.
They may be in and out of ths service
two or three times during the course
of a year. In the case of the District
per diem workers who were specially
granted the leave with pay by act of
Congress, it was provided that this
leave should go only to those who had
been employed for ten consecutive
months. Obviously, In such case there
ip slight and surely not sufficient
difference from permanent employ
ment to warrant any dlsefllhinatlon
between these people and the per
manent workers.
