in the lowest grade in which the employee has served during the time period of eighteen or thirty months, as the case may be.

In decision of October 2, 1941, B-20500, 21 Comp. Gen. 285, it was stated, in pertinent part, as follows:

It appears clear from the terms of section 7 of the Classification Act of 1923 as amended by section 2 of the act here involved, and from the above-quoted provision of the executive order, that eligibility for promotion as of October 1, 1941- when the first increases under the act become effective is for determination on the basis of service rendered during the last preceding 18 or 30 months, as the case may be, and that the increase shall be on the basis of the rate of compensation applicable to the particular grade in which the employee is serving at the time he becomes eligible for the increase.

The facts of the case presented on which that decision was based showed an increase in compensation, a reduction in compensation, and a restoration in compensation to the rate previously paid. The decision held that the restoration in salary was an "equivalent increase in compensation" within the meaning of the statute and regulations and that the 18 months' period must be computed from the date of the restoration in compensation.

Referring to case 1, the Budget, 1942, page 888, shows that field grade 5 of post-office inspectors administratively adopted pursuant to 39 U. S. C. 693a, corresponds to Classification Act grade CAF-11 with salary steps of $200 each. On the basis of the rules stated in the decision of October 2, 1941, supra, the increase of compensation of the inspector on January 1, 1925, more than 30 months prior to October 1, 1941, must be eliminated entirely from consideration. The 30 months' period for consideration under the act of August 1, 1941, began to run April 16, 1939, the date of restoration to $4,000 per annum. If otherwise qualified as to efficiency and service and conduct under the terms of the statute and regulations, this inspector will be entitled to a within-grade salary advancement on January 1, 1942, the beginning of the next quarter after October 15, 1941, the expiration of 30 months from April 16, 1939.

Referring to case 2, the Budget, 1942, page 888, shows that field grade 4 of post-office inspectors administratively adopted pursuant to 39 U. S. C. 693a, corresponds to Classification Act grade CAF-10 with salary steps of $100 each. On the basis of the rules stated in the decision of October 2, 1941, supra, the 18 months' period for consideration under the act of August 1, 1941, runs from April 1, 1940, to October 1, 1941. During that period the inspector received no increase in compensation. Accordingly, so far as the period of time is concerned, he would be eligible for a within-grade salary advancement of one step of $100, from $3,800 to $3,900 per annum as of October 1, 1941. (See, however, the last paragraph of Budget Cir

cular No. 381, dated September 27, 1941.) That is, the restoration to $3,900 per annum is to be regarded as a within-grade salary advancement under the terms and conditions of the act of August 1, 1941. One of the conditions fixed by the act of August 1, 1941, to entitle an employee to a periodic within-grade salary advancement is stated in section 2 (b) (4), as follows:

(4) That the service and conduct of such employee are certified by the head of the department or agency or such official as he may designate as being otherwise satisfactory.

Thus, if the service and conduct of the inspector have not been satisfactory, it is within the discretion of the Post Office Department to withhold the administrative certificate required by section 2 (b) (4) of the statute as a disciplinary measure for such time beyond the promotable period as may be deemed proper or necessary.

Relative to case 3, attention is invited to section 2 (a) of the President's regulations (Executive Order No. 8882, dated September 3, 1941), reading as follows:

In computing the periods of service required by the said section 7 for withingrade advancements there shall be credited to such service:

(a) Continuous civilian employment in any branch, executive department, independent establishment, agency, or corporation of the Federal Government or in the municipal government of the District of Columbia

Accordingly, the 18 months' period in this case ran from April 1, 1940, to October 1, 1941, including service both in the departmental and field service of the Post Office Department during which period the employee received no increase in compensation. If his efficiency rating and service and conduct otherwise qualify him under the statute and regulations, this employee is entitled to a within-grade salary advancement as of October 1, 1941. The policy of the Post Office Department withholding increases in compensation during the trial period of 6 months as a post-office inspector mentioned in this case must yield to the terms of the new statute and regulations. In effect, this employee remains on detail from his departmental position during the 6 months' trial period as a post-office inspector and he is entitled to a within-grade salary advancement based upon his efficiency as of April 15, 1941, under the Civil Service rules, as a departmental employee, provided his service and conduct are otherwise satisfactory. If the employee fails to meet the requirements of a post-office inspector, there is nothing in the statute or otherwise to prevent his transfer to other duties allocated in a higher or lower grade, in which event his initial salary rate would be controlled by other rules stated in the decisions of this office.

(B-19334)

SUBSISTENCE-PER DIEMS-LACK OF HEADQUARTERS' DESIGNATION Temporary field surveying assistants, General Land Office, may be regarded as entitled to the per diem in lieu of subsistence provided for in their contract of employment regardless of whether they may or may not be considered as in a travel status, since the nature of their employment-temporary and transitory-and the fact that the per diem payment is really a part of their compensation, instead of a travel allowance under the Subsistence Expense Act of 1926, as amended, make unnecessary the designation of official headquarters as required by said Act and the Standarized Government Travel Regulations.

Comptroller General Warren to the Secretary of the Interior, October 14, 1941: Reference is made to your letter dated July 31, 1941, as follows:

There is attached a list of disallowances made in the accounts of G. F. Allen, Chief Disbursing Officer, Treasury Department, for per diem in lieu of subsistence paid to field surveying assistants of the General Land Office while in the headquarters city of the several surveying districts.

There are two classes of employees making up the surveying parties (1) cadastral engineers, surveyors, and transitmen who are departmental appointed employees with headquarters in the several surveying districts; and (2) chainmen, rodmen, flagmen, axmen, packers and truck drivers, commonly called field assistants who are temporary employees and are not assigned headquarters. Field surveying assistants are paid from $60 to $75 per month and a per diem in lieu of subsistence for the time they are employed.

A copy of the authorization for the employment of field assistants in surveying district number 8 (Oregon) is enclosed. This is similar to the authorizations issued in other districts, which are referred to in the travel expense vouchers of field assistants. Paragraph three provides that temporary field assistants will be allowed a per diem of $2 in lieu of subsistence when not living in a Government camp or at home, and paragraph four provides that when stationed in a Government camp in the performance of duty, they will be allowed a per diem of $1.25 in lieu of subsistence.

Since July 1, 1910, when the direct system of surveys was inaugurated, departmental appointed surveyors of the General Land Office have been assigned to the execution of surveys in certain States of the public domain and Alaska. each with 6 to 8 temporary assistants, hired when practicable in the general locality of the project, to perform the duties of chainmen, flagmen, rodmen, axmen, moundsmen, teamsters, and later truck drivers, in connection with the work. All such assistants when so employed have been subsisted at Government expense under the regulations of the General Land Office.

The surveyor and his temporary field assistants as a rule live in portable camps, and since June 1933, have received per diem allowances in lieu of the subsistence theretofore furnished by the Government direct, the surveyor when away from his headquarters on official business, and his temporary assistants, whose periods of employment range from a few days to six months or more, continuously while on the pay roll and not at home.

Temporary field assistants have had no official headquarters in the accepted sense or in fact. They are employed at the outfitting point for the project where they place themselves at their own expense. Most of them never see the headquarters office of the district in which they work. A few as necessity requires are on the pay roll at the headquarters town for brief periods to assist in assembling or in storing equipment, and others of necessity may stop there overnight when moving from one field assignment to another.

Upon request from this department for a decision regarding the construction to be placed upon the term "designated posts of duty" and the question of whether or not it is essential that a particular post of duty be designated in each detail to field service, the Comptroller of the Treasury advised in decision dated May 3, 1915 (21 C. D. 785), that

"Designated post of duty' has no particular significance in these cases unless employees sent into the field are assigned to a specific post of duty. They remain employees of the bureau with post of duty in Washington, and may receive per diem while on duty in the field, if not assigned to some specific post of duty, which is not required."

The practice of not assigning headquarters for temporary field surveying assistants of the General Land Office has long been followed and is still considered administratively sound. Paragraph 224 of General Land Office Circular No. 616, approved August 9, 1918, containing instructions regarding methods of keeping records and accounts relating to the public lands, reads as follows: "Headquarters.-The selection of official stations and the assignment of temporary headquarters is placed under the control of the commissioner, subject to revision by the Secretary on his own initiative or upon application of an interested party. The official stations of chiefs of field divisions have been definitely established and special agents, mineral examiners, timber cruisers, practical miners, and other employees in that branch of the service are to be considered as having their official headquarters with the chiefs of their respective divisions. The official station of the supervisors of surveys is Denver; and the official stations of the assistant supervisors of surveys, surveyors, and transitmen are with the surveyors general of the States to which they may be assigned or such other quarters as may be authorized or designated within that city. Field assistants to surveyors will not be assigned headquarters."

Current travel orders similar to the one enclosed still provide that temporary field assistants will be allowed a per diem of $2 in lieu of subsistence when not living in a Government camp or at home, and $1.25 when stationed in a Government camp. The practice was not questioned by the General Accounting Office until March 20, 1940, when by notice of exception of that date certain credits were withheld in the Nevada accounts of March 1939, for per diem paid temporary field assistants when at Reno, Nevada, the headquarters of the Nevada surveying district. Your decisions of January 17, 1936, and April 9, 1940, 15 C. G. 624 and 19 C. G. 846 respectively, are cited as authority for the action taken.

It is our contention that the decisions referred to do not apply to the temporary field surveying assistants of the General Land Office for the reason that they are not assigned headquarters and are entitled to per diem in lieu of subsistence from the time they are employed until they are separated, except when living at home. Your reconsideration of the disallowances made in these cases is requested.

The vouchers involved covered payments of per diem in lieu of subsistence, as in a travel status, to temporary field assistants, members of surveying parties, General Land Office, for whom the administrative office had designated no official headquarters; and the amounts suspended in the audit of accounts represented per diem for periods these employees were at the central headquarters of the surveying district in which they were employed, the conclusion reached in the audit being that in the absence of any administrative designation of official headquarters the central headquarters for each surveying district must be regarded as the official headquarters of the employees in order to allow them a per diem in lieu of subsistence as in a travel status-such per diem being payable only when in a travel status away from official headquarters. See 1 Comp. Gen. 60; id. 426; 2 id. 757; 4 id. 320; 5 id. 400; 10 id. 469; 12 id. 634; also, see paragraph 46 of the Standardized Government Travel Regulations which provides that "Under no circumstances will per diem in lieu of subsistence be allowed an employee at his official station." However, from what is stated in your letter and in the regulations referred to therein, it appears that the per diem in lieu of subsistence paid to these employees was not intended as, and does not in fact represent, a travel allowance under the Subsistence Expense Act of

1926, approved June 3, 1926, 44 Stat. 689, as amended by section 207 of the act of June 30, 1932, 47 Stat. 405, or under the Standardized Government Travel Regulations, but represents rather an allowance for subsistence in lieu of furnishing the employees subsistence in kind as a part of the total compensation of this class of temporary employees. That is, it is understood from the explanation now furnished that these temporary field surveying assistants are paid as compensation for their services from $60 to $75 per month, and in addition a per diem of $2 in lieu of subsistence when not living in a Government camp or at home, $1.25 in lieu of subsistence when stationed in a Government camp, and no per diem in lieu of subsistence when living at home. In other words, the contract with the employees provides for a stipulated wage and to subsist them at Government expense while they are in the field away from their homes, payment in lieu of subsistence being made on a per diem. basis, no official headquarters being designated for them.

In decision of May 13, 1933, 12 Comp. Gen. 634, it was held that there was no legal objection to furnishing subsistence in kind to employees of the class here under consideration while at their headquarters camp as a part of their total compensation under the terms of the act of March 5, 1928, 45 Stat. 193, or to an administrative arrangement whereby such employees may be permitted to maintain their own mess at the camps, payment being made to them of their regular per diem in lieu of subsistence on the same basis as if in a travel status. Furthermore, as such employees are not within the purview of the Classification Act prescribing fixed salary rates from which must be deducted the determined value of allowances furnished in kind under the act of 1928, supra, there is likewise no legal objection to commuting the amount it would cost the Government to furnish subsistence in kind to these employees while away from their homes as members of surveying parties, allowing them that amount in addition to their stipulated wage as a part of their total compensation-the employees to subsist themselves.

As stated in your letter, it must be recognized that these employees who are engaged temporarily, usually for short periods, as members of surveying parties moving from place to place most of the time, cannot be considered as employed for the performance of services at some designated official headquarters for any length of time. On the contrary, since the services performed by them are rendered mainly while the surveying party is actually in the field, the arbitrary desig nation or recognition of the central headquarters of the surveying district in which they are employed as their official headquarters apparently would contravene the rule that the designation of headquarters at a place where little or no duties are performed is not