cisions, including United States v. Jackson, 302 U. S. 628, where the court said:

Repeals by implications are not favored. The law is not to be construed as impliedly repealing a prior law unless no other reasonable construction can be applied.

The fact that the date November 12, 1918, is specified in the acts of June 13, 1940, and July 29, 1941, is an indication that the Congress intended to place in a select class for retirement purposes, Army officers who had commissioned or enlisted services in the armed forces during the World War period, and prior to the signing of the armistice on November 11, 1918, but there is no substantial reason for concluding that the Congress intended to overcome the inhibition of the 1912 act and include in this select class officers whose only service prior to the signing of the armistice was at the Military Academy or at the Naval Academy. This is made apparent by a comparison of the provision in the act of June 13, 1940, with the prior provision in section 5 of the act of July 31, 1935.

Your specific question, as presented in the first paragraph of your letter, is answered in the negative.

(B-20778)

COMPENSATION-WITHIN-GRADE

PROMOTIONS-EMPLOYEES

POSITIONS WITH MAXIMUM SALARY RATES FIXED BY LAW

IN

While the act of May 27, 1936, fixes the maximum salaries of supervising inspectors and principal traveling inspectors, Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation, the act does not preclude administrative allocation of the positions in appropriate Classification Act grades, and where such personnel have been so allocated, they are entitled, subject to the maximum salary limitations in the said act of May 27, 1936, to the benefits of the act of August 1, 1941, providing a uniform within-grade salary-advancement plan for employees whose salary rates are fixed under the Classification Act.

Comptroller General Warren to the Secretary of Commerce, October 13, 1941:

I have your letter of September 19, 1941, as follows:

The act of May 27, 1936 (Public, No. 622, 74th Congress) provides for the appointment of seven supervising inspectors in the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation, at a salary of not to exceed $6,000 per annum. It also provides for the appointment of not to exceed ten principal traveling inspectors, with compensation not to exceed $5,000 per annum. These positions are administratively allocated to Grades CAF-13 and CAF-12, respectively. The recently approved Act to amend the Classification Act of 1923, as amended, provides for increases in salary, within grades, for all employees compensated on a per annum basis, who occupy permanent positions within the scope of the compensation schedules fixed by the Classification Act.

Your decision is requested as to whether or not these employees may be promoted under the terms of the act of August 1, 1941, and if so, whether the limitations of $6,000 and $5,000, provided for in the act of May 27, 1936, must still be observed.

The act of May 27, 1936, 49 Stat. 1380-1, provides, so far as here material, as follows:

That the Bureau of Navigation and Steamboat Inspection in the Department of Commerce shall hereafter be known as the "Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation.'

SEC. 2. That section 4404 of the Revised Statutes is hereby amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 4404. There shall be seven supervising inspectors, who shall be appointed by the Secretary of Commerce. In the appointment of the supervising inspectors provided for by this section the Secretary of Commerce shall give due consideration to the reappointment of such of the present supervising inspectors as by their record of efficiency and experience have demonstrated their fitness for their positions. All vacancies occurring thereafter in the Board of Supervising Inspectors may be filled by selection from the principal traveling inspectors provided for by section 3 of this act, or from the United States local inspectors. Each supervising inspector shall be entitled to a salary of not to exceed $6,000 per annum and his necessary traveling expenses while traveling on official business assigned him by competent authority, together with his actual and reasonable expenses for transportation of instruments, which shall be certified and sworn to under such instructions as shall be given by the Secretary of Commerce.

"In the case of the absence of any such supervising inspector from his official station, the Secretary of Commerce may designate some officer of the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation to perform the duties of such officer during his absence."

SEC. 3. That there shall be in the field service of the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation in the Department of Commerce not to exceed ten principal traveling inspectors to be appointed by the Secretary of Commerce, the compensation of such principal traveling inspectors to be fixed by the Secretary of Commerce at not to exceed $5,000 per annum. Each of said principal traveling inspectors shall be entitled to his necessary traveling expenses while traveling on official business. Such principal traveling inspectors shall be selected for their knowledge, skill, and practical experience in steam and motor power for navigation and shall be competent judges of the character and qualities of such vessels and of all parts of the machinery employed in such navigation. They also shall have full knowledge of the duties imposed by law on licensed officers and crews of vessels.

Section 2 of the act of August 1, 1941, Public Law 200, 55 Stat. 613, provides, in pertinent part, as follows:

Section 7 of the said Act is hereby amended by inserting the letter "(a)" after the figure "7" at the beginning of said section, and by adding the following paragraphs as subsections thereof:

"(b) All employees compensated on a per annum basis, and occupying permanent positions within the scope of the compensation schedules fixed by this act, who have not attained the maximum rate of compensation for the grade in which their positions are respectively allocated, shall be advanced in compensation successively to the next higher rate within the grade at the beginning of the next quarter, following the completion of: (1) Each eighteen months of service if such employees are in grades in which the compensation increments are $60 or $100, or (2) each thirty months of service if such employees are in grades in which the compensation increments are $200 or $250, subject to the following conditions:

"(g) The President is hereby authorized to issue such regulations as may be necessary for the administration of this section."

Section 1 of Executive Order No. 8882, dated September 3, 1941, contains the following pertinent definition:

In the administration of the said section 7, the following definitions of terms used therein shall apply:

(b) "Positions within the scope of the compensation schedules fixed by this Act" shall include all permanent positions, including positions in the field services, in the executive and legislative branches, in government-owned or government-controlled corporations, and in the municipal government of the District of Columbia, the compensation of which has been fixed on a per-annum basis, pursuant to the allocation of such positions to the appropriate grade either by the Civil Service Commission or by administrative action of the department or agency concerned, in accordance with the compensation schedules of the Classification Act of 1923, as amended, or the said schedules as adjusted by an authorized differential." [Italics supplied.]

I have before me for reference purposes the pay rolls of the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation, Department of Commerce, for May, 1941, and they show that the field positions of supervising inspectors have been administratively placed or allocated in Classification Act grade CAF-13, and that the salary rates of some of the incumbents of the positions were then fixed at $5,600, others at $5,800 per annum-those being rates prescribed by the Classification Act for that grade—and that the field positions of principal traveling inspectors have been administratively placed or allocated in Classification Act grade CAF-12 and that the salary rates of some of the incumbents of the positions were then fixed at $4,600, others at $4,800 per annum said rates being rates prescribed by the Classification Act for that grade.

The act of May 27, 1936, supra, does not expressly exclude the positions of supervising inspectors and principal traveling inspectors from the Classification Act. It merely fixes a limitation on the maximum salary that may be paid. See 19 Comp. Gen. 20; id. 160. The action of the Congress by said act of May 27, 1936, may be regarded as limiting the maximum salary rate of supervising inspectors to the middle rate of grade CAF-13, namely, $6,000 per annum, and the maximum salary rate of principal traveling inspectors to the middle rate of grade CAF-12, namely, $5,000 per annum, rather than as precluding administrative action in allocating the positions in the approximate grades prescribed by the Classification Act. Compare B-19495, dated August 26, 1941, 21 Comp. Gen. 184.

As the conditions prescribed by the regulations of the President (see italicized portion of section 1 (b) supra) have been met to bring the positions of supervising inspector and principal traveling inspector within the purview of the Classification Act, I have to advise that the incumbents of the positions are entitled to the benefits of the within-grade salary-advancement plan prescribed by the act of August 1, 1941, Public Law 200, subject to the limitations upon the maximum salary that may be paid as fixed by the act of May 27, 1936, supra. Accordingly, both of the questions presented in the concluding paragraph of your letter are answered in the affirmative.

(B-20841)

COMPENSATION—WITHIN-GRADE PROMOTIONS—ELIGIBILITY; ETC.

A restoration in salary, during the 30-month period antedating October 1, 1941, of an employee in a grade with salary increments of $200, although the restoration is to a rate paid previous to such period, is to be considered an “equiv. alent increase in compensation" within the meaning of the act of August 1, 1941, providing for uniform within-grade salary advancements, and the date of such restoration is the date from which the 30-month period is to be computed for purposes of determining when the employee is entitled to an increase in compensation under the act.

Even though the effect of an employee's one-step within-grade salary advancement on October 1, 1941, is to restore the salary rate received prior to a reduction for disciplinary reasons, the restoration is to be regarded as a within-grade salary advancement under the terms and conditions of the art of August 1, 1941.

Where an employee has been reduced in salary for disciplinary reasons but whose efficiency rating and period of service prior to October 1, 1941, are such as not to bar a promotion under the act of August 1, 1941, providing for uniform within-grade salary advancements, it is within the discretion of the administrative officers, under the provisions of said act, to withhold for such period as is deemed proper or necessary the administrative certificate as to "otherwise satisfactory conduct" which is fixed by said act as one of the conditions necessary for a salary advancement thereunder. Where a departmental employee was detailed without change in compensation to a position in the field service for a trial period of 6 months, and prior to the expiration of 6 months the employee has complied with all conditions necessary for a within-grade salary advancement under the act of August 1, 1941, the administrative policy of not granting salary increases to employees during such trial period must yield to the mandatory salary-advancement requirements of the act.

An employee who has been given a within-grade salary advancement under the provisions of the act of August 1, 1941, while still serving a "trial period" in a new position, and who fails to meet the requirements of such new position may be transferred to duties allocated in a higher or lower grade, in which event his initial salary rate would be controlled by rules stated in prior decisions of the Comptroller General.

Comptroller General Warren to the Postmaster General, October 13, 1941:

I have your letter of September 29, 1941, as follows:

The following questions have arisen in connection with the application to postoffice inspectors of the act of August 1, 1941 (Public Law 200, 77th Cong.). Postoffice inspectors are compensated under 39 U. S. C. 693a under a classification system and salary rates patterned after the Classification Act of 1923.

Case No. 1. This inspector was promoted on January 1, 1925, from $3.700 to $4,000 per annum. He was reduced on April 1, 1937, in grade 5, from $4,000 to $3,800 and was restored to $4,000 on April 16, 1939. (a) Is he eligible for salary advance on October 1, 1941, on the theory that his last equivalent increase was on January 1, 1925; or (b) will it be necessary to defer his advancement until January 1, 1942, on the theory that the restoration on April 16, 1939, was in fact an equivalent salary increase?

Case No 2. This inspector was last advanced from $3,800 to $3,900 in grade 4, December 16, 1939. On October 16, 1940, he was reduced to $3,800 for disciplinary reasons. His last efficiency rating would not bar a promotion under the act of August 1, 1941, and if the answer to (a) above is in the affirmative, he will be eligible for a one-step salary increase of $100 on October 1, 1941. In such cases, has the Department any discretion to withhold such promotion on the ground that it would nullify the disciplinary action taken? If not, would restoration to $3,900 be considered as a promotion under the act, or would the Depart ment be obligated to advance this inspector to the next salary rate above $3,900, which was the rate to which he was last promoted.

Case No. 3. This individual was advanced in the departmental service in grade 7, Clerical, Administrative, and Fiscal Service, from $2,700 to $2.800 on March 1, 1940. He was transferred without change of compensation from the departmental service to the field service in grade 1 of the Post Office Inspection Service on April 15, 1941. Appointment to the position of post-office inspector

is a transfer within the Postal Establishment. Under an order of the Postmaster General the first 6 months of service as post-office inspector is considered a trial period and the Department undertakes to restore the appointee to his former position or a comparable one if during this trial period he does not demonstrate sufficient aptitude. This trial period is not considered a probation within the meaning of the civil-service rules. The trial period of this individual will expire October 15, 1941. Previous to the enactment of the act of August 1, 1941, it has been an administrative practice of the Department not to grant within-grade salary increases during the trial period. In view of the act of August 1, 1941, and the fact the trial period is not a probation under the civil-service rules, it appears that it will be necessary to consider the 18-month interval as running from March 1, 1940, to September 1, 1941, necessitating a one-step salary increment under the act of August 1, 1941. Is this a necessary conclusion; if not, a second question arises. The trial period expires October 15, 1941. If the trial period is completed successfully, will it be possible to then grant the $100 increase required by the act of August 1, 1941, retroactively to October 1, 1941?

Title 39, section 693a, U. S. Code, provides as follows:

The Postmaster General is authorized and directed to adjust the compensation of post-office inspectors and inspectors in charge in the post-office inspection service to correspond, so far as may be practicable, to the rates established by the Classification Act of 1923, as amended [5: 661 to 663, 664 to 673, 674], for positions in the departmental service in the District of Columbia. Any appropriation now or hereafter available for the payment of the compensation of postoffice inspectors and inspectors in charge shall be available for payment of compensation in accordance with the rates adjusted in accordance with the provisions of this act [section] (Aug. 7, 1935, c. 450, 49 Stat. 538).

Section 2 of the act of August 1, 1941, Public Law 200, 55 Stat. 613, contains the following pertinent provisions:

(b) All employees compensated on a per annum basis, and occupying permanent positions within the scope of the compensation schedules fixed by this act, who have not attained the maximum rate of compensation for the grade in which their positions are respectively allocated, shall be advanced in compensation successively to the next higher rate within the grade at the beginning of the next quarter, following the completion of: (1) Each eighteen months of service if such employees are in grades in which the compensation increments are $60 or $100, or (2) each thirty months of service if such employees are in grades in which the compensation increments are $200 or $250, subject to the following conditions:

(1) That no equivalent increase in compensation from any cause was received during such period, except increase made pursuant to subsection (f) of this section;

(e) Employees eligible under subsection (b) for compensation advancement by reason of service immediately preceding the effective date of this amendment shall be advanced to the next higher rate of compensation within the grade to which their positions are respectively allocated at the beginning of the next quarter immediately following the effective date of this amendment..

*

(g) The President is hereby authorized to issue such regulations as may be necessary for the administration of this section.

Executive Order No. 8882, dated September 3, 1941, issued pursuant to the statute, supra, provides, in part, as follows:

SECTION 1. In the administration of the said section 7, the following definitions of terms used therein shall apply:

(d) "Equivalent increase in compensation" shall mean any increase or increases which in total are equal to or greater than the compensation increment 470350m-42-23