Selection. (b) The nominating or appointing officer shall make selection for the first vacancy from not more than the highest three names certified, or on the register, with sole reference to merit and fitness, unless objection shall be made, and sustained by the commission, to one or more of the persons certified, for any of the reasons stated in Rule V, section 4. For the second vacancy he shall make selection from not more than the highest three remaining, who have not been within his reach for three separate vacancies, or against whom objection has not Amendment of been made and sustained in the manner indicated. The Apr. 28, 1910. third and any additional vacancies shall be filled in like manner. More than one selection may be made from the three names next in order for appointment, or from two names if the register contains only two, subject to the requirements of section 2 of this rule as to the apportionment. Any eligible who has been within reach for three separate vacancies in his turn may be subsequently selected, subject to the approval of the commission, from the certificate on which his name last appeared, if the condition of the register has not so changed as to place him in other respects beyond reach of certification. In making certification fromthe register of an eligible who at the time of certification is employed under the Government, the commission will notify the department to which he is certified that the eligible should not be required to enter upon duty for a period of 30 days after appointment except upon the approval of the head of the department in which he is working. (Minute of commission, Apr. 7, 1903.) An act of Congress or a rule promulgated by the President, may require that the selection shall be made from persons found by an examining board to be qualified in such particulars as diligence, scholarship, integrity, good manners, and attachment to the Government. The appointing power would still have scope for the exercise of its own judgment and will. (Opinion Atty. Gen., Aug. 31, 1871, 13 Op., 516.) The Comptroller of the Treasury will not go behind the certificate of the appointing power to ascertain whether the civil service rules and regulations have been complied with in the employment of persons in the classified civil service. (Decision Compt. Treas., Apr. 1, 1899, 5 Dec., 649.) The head of a department has no authority to withdraw his notice to the Civil Service Commission of his revocation of a selection for appointment and appoint the same party previously certified without further certification from the commission. (Opinion Atty. Gen., Apr. 8, 1891, 20 Op., 64.) "Hereafter paragraphs (a) and (b) of section 1 of civil service Rule VII shall apply to the appointment of rural carriers, and three eligibles shall be certified by the Civil Service Commission. In all cases selections shall be made 'with sole reference to merit and fitness and without regard to political considerations. No inquiry shall be made as to the political or religious opinions or affiliations of any eligible, and no recommendation in any way based thereon shall be received, considered, or filed by any officer concerned in making selections or appointments. Any such recommendations in writing forwarded to any such officer shall be at once returned to the writer with attention invited to the purport of this order, and attention hereto shall be similarly directed in connection with any verbal recommendation. Where it is found that there has been a violation of these provisions by any officer concerned in making selections or appointments, such fact shall be cause for the immediate removal of such officer from the service, and the commission shall make prompt report of any such case for appropriate action to the Postmaster General, or, as to presidential appointees, to the President. The appointment of the rural carrier concerned, if effected, shall be canceled. Persons employed as rural carriers, while retaining the right to vote as they please, and to express their opinions privately on all political subjects, shall take no active part in political management or in political campaigns. Any rural carrier taking such part shall be removed from the service or otherwise disciplined, recommendation as to the penalty to be imposed in each case to be made by the Civil Service Commission." (Executive order, Dec. 30, 1911.) Probationary par. 4. May 3, 1912. (c) The person selected for appointment shall be duly notified by the appointing officer, and upon accepting and Act, sec. 2, cl. 2, reporting for duty shall receive from such officer a cer-As amended tificate of appointment. The first six months under this appointment shall be a probationary period; but the commission and the department concerned may, by regulation, fix the probationary period at one year for any specified positions. If and when, after full and fair trial, during this period, the conduct or capacity of the probationer be not satisfactory to the appointing officer, the probationer shall be so notified in writing, with a full statement of reasons, and this notice shall terminate his service. His retention in the service beyond the proba-Absolute aptionary period confirms his absolute appointment. A probationer separated from the service without delinquency or misconduct may be restored to the register of eligibles in the discretion of the commission for the remainder of his period of eligibility. "The claimant's contention that because he had passed a civil service examination and, pursuant to the rules prescribed by the Executive, had been appointed for a probationary period of six months, therefore his discharge prior thereto was a violation of such rule, can not be sustained, as neither the statute authorizing appointments, nor the rules. promulgated by the Executive governing the same, cast upon the Government the obligation to continue the employment of such a one when his services are not needed, much less when he is incompetent for the performance of the duties for which he was appointed. * * No vested right is acquired by the incumbent of an office by virtue of such regulation. "Paragraph 4 of section 2 of the civil service act of January 16, 1883, provides for 'a period of probation before any absolute appointment or employment' is made; and therefore it may be said that the Executive regulation fixing the probationary period at six months has the force of law, yet neither the statute nor the regulation can be construed to bind the Gov * Amendment of July 25, 1914. ernment to retain in its employ an ap- The probationary period for post-office clerks and carriers begins upon their promotion to the regular roll and not at the date of original appointment as substitutes. (Minute of commission. Dec. 19, 1903.) An irregularity in the certification of the name of an eligible for appointment under the civil service is cured by the probational and absolute appointment of such a person. (Opinion Atty. Gen., Jan. 9, 1896, 21 Op., 289.) The name of a person separated without delinquency or misconduct during probation may be restored to the register for certification to other departments and offices than that from which separated until the expiration of one year from the date when his eligibility first began, upon his request in writing accompanied by a statement of reasons satisfactory to the commission. (Minute of commission, Aug. 1, 1898.) ment. Act, sec. 2, cl. 2, 2. Certification for appointment in the departments or Apportionindependent offices at Washington shall be so made as to maintain, as nearly as the conditions of good administra par. 3. from apportion ment. tion will warrant, the apportionment of such appointments among the several States and Territories and the District of Columbia upon the basis of population: ProExceptions vided, That appointments to the following-named positions shall not be so apportioned, viz, plate printer, printer's assistant, skilled helper, and operative in the Bureau of Engraving and Printing; positions in the field service of the military staff departments and at Army headquarters, mail-bag repair shop, and mail-lock repair Amendment of shop, Government Printing Office, and local offices in the District of Columbia; apprentice, student, gardener, engraver, carpenter, cabinetmaker, painter, plumber, plumber's helper, electric wireman, electric lineman, electrician's helper, and messenger boy. Sept. 18, 1909. Congress did not intend that * * * where everything was done in good faith, an inadvertent disregard of the rule of apportionment in making an appointment should annul that appointment. The statute is directory only in the above particular." (Opinion Atty. Gen., Dec. 10, 1891, 20 Op., 274.) * * * An eligible who has been allowed preference under section 1754, Revised Statutes, will be certified without regard to the apportionment, the Attorney General having held, May 12, 1910 (28 Op., 298), that preference under section 1754, Revised Statutes, is not subject to the law of apportionment. Under the exception of "local offices in the District of Columbia, the commission has placed employees of the National Zoological Park (minute of Oct. 7, 1903), and positions in the Office of Instruction of Young Officers in Marine Engineering whose salaries are paid from an appropriation separate from that for the Navy Department proper. (Minute of July 16, 1906.) The residence and domicile restrictions contained in the first proviso of section 7 of the census act approved July 2, 1909, apply only to the examinations for the apportioned service of the Government at Washington. (Opinions, Atty. Gen., Aug. 18 and Nov. 15, 1909, 27 Õp., 546; 28 Op:, 78.) The Attorney General held June 17, 1910 (28 Op., 348), that a person serving in an apportioned position is not subject to the residence and domicile restrictions of the act of July 2, 1909 (36 Stat., 1). "Hereafter all persons entering apportioned positions, whether through examination, by Executive order, legislative enactment, or otherwise, except those entering such positions under the temporary appointment rule, will be called upon to furnish proof of residence, and thereupon shall be charged to the apportionment; and all persons already in the apportioned service but not charged to the apportionment whose status is changed from one position to another in such service upon the certificate of the commission shall before such change of status is authorized be required to furnish proof of residence and shall likewise be charged to the apportionment; and all persons already in the apportioned service but not charged to the apportionment who file with the commission applications for promotion or other change of status in such service shall be required in connection with such applications to furnish proof of residence, and when such proof is so filed in the case of any person he shall be charged to the apportionment. The proof of residence shall consist of the usual personal affidavit, the usual citizens' vouchers, and the county officer's certificate under the act of July 11, 1890." (Minute of commission, Apr. 1, 1910.) Draftsmen in the Ordnance Department paid from appropriations for field service but performing their duties in the Ordnance Department at Washington are within the apportioned service. (Minute of commission, Apr. 28, 1910.) See also Rule IX and Rule X, sec. 8, cl. c and notes, for provisions relative to apportionment in reinstatements and transfers. districts. 3. The commission may arrange the territory of the Certification by United States into appropriate districts for the purpose of certification to positions in parts of the service not subject to the apportionment, and certification to any such position may be confined to residents of the district in which such position is located. RULE VIII. TEMPORARY APPOINTMENT. penning regular filling of vacancy. 1. Temporary appointment without examination and Appointment certification by the commission shall not be made to a competitive position in any case except when the public interest so requires, and then only upon the prior authorization of the commission; and any appointment so authorized shall continue only for such period as may be necessary to make appointment through certification of eligibles, and in no case without prior approval of the commission shall extend beyond 30 days from receipt by the appointing officer of the commission's certificate; and when a vacancy is to be filled by promotion or transfer for which the commission's certificate is not required and a temporary appointment is authorized by the commission under the provisions of this section pending the promotion or transfer, such temporary appointment shall in no case continue beyond the period of 30 days without prior approval of the commission. When a temporary appointment is proposed under this section a statement of the action taken toward making a permanent appointment to the position must be given. (See sec. 5 of this rule.) In positions in the departments in Washington, appointments under section 1 can only be made with the prior consent of the commission and from the commission's eligible lists when there are eligibles available for temporary service, and in case there are no eligibles the commission may require the person proposed for temporary appointment to pass an appropriate examination prior to the authorization of his appointment. The passing of such examination shall not, however, give such person a status in the classified service, but shall be regarded simply as a test of fitness for the position to be temporarily filled. Such examination shall be made special, with a view to an immediate determination of eligibility. (Minute of commission, Feb. 7, 1908.) "In positions outside of Washington which are not under the district system and which are not provided for by special regulations, general authority to constitute the prior authorization of the commission is given for making appointments under the terms of section 1 for periods not to exceed thirty days, and in the Forest and Indian Services for an extension for a similar period of thirty days. The prior authority of the commission is required for any extensions beyond those here enumerated. All such appointments and extensions must be reported by letter when made. Services for which special regulations have been adopted are governed by these regulations." (Commission's circular No. 1729, June, 1909.) The provision of section 9 of the civilservice act "that whenever there are already two or more members of a family in the public service in the grades covered by this act, no other member of such family shall be eligible for appointment to any of said grades" is held to apply to temporary appointments. (Minute of commission, Dec. 9, 1908.) -Appointment 2. When there are no eligibles upon a register for any pending register eligibles. when there are no grade in which a vacancy exists and the public interest requires that it be filled before eligibles can be provided by the commission, then the commission may authorize temporary appointment without examination. Such appointment shall continue only for such period as may be necessary to make appointment through certification and in no case without prior approval of the commission shall extend beyond thirty days from the receipt by the appointing officer of the commission's certification of eligibles. "Temporary appointments pending the establishment of a register when there are no eligibles available for certification for filling a vacancy outside of Washington, D. C., in services not under the district system and not covered by special regulations, may be approved in each case on condition that the person so appointed enter the examination when announced and that each such appointment Appointment from registers of be promptly reported to the commission "When the position is in Washington, the prior consent of the commission must be obtained and the person temporarily appointed must enter the examination." (Commission's circular No. 1729, June, 1909.) 3. When there is at least one eligible and not more one or two eligi- than two eligibles on a register for any grade in which a bles, pending full certification. vacancy exists, the commission shall, upon requisition from the proper appointing officer, certify the name of the one eligible or the names of the two eligibles, which shall be considered by the appointing officer with a view to probational appointment; and if the appointing officer shall elect not to make probational appointment from such certificate of less than three names, then if temporary appointment is required it shall be made from such certificate unless reasons satisfactory to the commission are given why such appointment should not be made. Such temporary appointment may continue until three eligibles are provided. If selection is not made from the certificate for either probational or temporary appointment under the provisions of this section, then temporary appointment, if required, may be made under the provisions of section 2 of this rule. 4. When there is work of a temporary character, at the completion of which the services of an additional employee will not be required, a temporary appointment may be made with the prior consent of the commission for a period not to exceed three months, and may with like consent of the commission be extended for a further period of three months. Such temporary appointment shall be made through certification from the commis |