not for a short and limited period, the employee should be held to be within the group protected by the statute. In my opinion, a basic factor in determining whether a Government employee has reemployment rights is whether or not he has acquired a permanent civil-service status. The purpose of granting such status to certain employees of the Government is to enhance their security. Acquisition of such status has the effect of giving the employee protection against arbitrary and unexpected termination of his employment. Once having acquired such status, an employee is regarded, and should be able to regard himself, as part of the permanent governmental establishment. Of course, there is no absolute permanence in any governmental function or employment. The continuance of every agency and function (and thus of every Government position) is dependent upon continuation of appropriations and continued existence of statutory authority. Members of the permanent civil service are always subject to discharge resulting from reductions in force required by the curtailment of appropriations and from the termination of the statutory existence of their employing agency. Within these limitations, however, acquisition of a permanent civil-service status is meant to assure a governmental employee continuity and security in his employment and thus to enhance the desirability of Federal service as a career. In view of the basic purpose of civil-service status and the safeguards incident thereto, it is not reasonable in my opinion to call persons occupying such status occupants of "temporary" positions in any sense. I recognize the fact that many employees who had previously acquired permanent civil-service status were serving in war-service appointments at the time they entered the armed services. Under the war service regulations, issued by the Civil Service Commission pursuant to Executive Order 9063 of February 16, 1942, all appointments after March 16, 1942, were war-service appointments. Any person holding permanent civil-service status under an indefinite appointment who was transferred or promoted after that date received only a war-service appointment to his new position. This factor does not affect the permanent civil-service status which I have discussed above and would not, in my opinion, make the employment of such persons "temporary" within the meaning of the statute. As a matter of fact, the war service regulations specifically provided that persons having civil-service status who were transferred to new war-service appointments would retain their civil-service status "for all intents and purposes" and would not lose their "right to permanent tenure as a classified civil-service appointee" on account of the transfer. (Civil Service Commission War Service Regulation IX, sec. 7.) The Attorney General's opinion of May 26, 1943, holding that war-service appointees occupy "temporary" positions within the meaning of section 8, applies only to persons whose tenure was based solely on a war-service appointment. The status of persons who had previously acquired civil-service status but were serving in war-service appointments as a result of transfer or promotion after March 16, 1942, was not before the Attorney General in that opinion. In a letter addressed to the heads of all executive departments and agencies on February 26, 1944, the President granted to the Civil Service Commission broad authority to determine the application of section 8 to Government employment. The President provided: "My attention has been called to the fact that there is some confusion in the minds of appointing officers in the departments and agencies as to the Federal Government's obligations to provide reemployment for persons who left the Federal service and entered the armed forces. I am today designating the Civil Service Commission as my representative for the purpose of issuing, from time to time, instructions which will indicate just what the rights of the returning veterans are under certain sets of circumstances. The instructions issued by the Commission should be rigidly adhered to by the heads of the departments and agencies and by their representatives." I therefore requested the views of the Civil Service Commission on the issues which you have submitted for my opinion. Its reply, dated February 6, 1945, is set forth as an appendix to this opinion. It is seen from the reply that the Civil Service Commission adopts the same principles that I have adopted in construing the application of section 8 to Government employees. In my opinion, the fact that the departmental subdivisions in question here were all of a temporary character does not, of itself, defeat the reemployment right of those employees who had acquired permanent civil-service status. To the extent that the opinion of May 30, 1945, holds that all positions in a temporary agency must be considered "temporary" positions within the meaning of section 8, regardless of the status acquired by the occupants, that opinion is hereby modified. Likewise, the fact that the departmental subdivisions involved here have gone out of existence or are in the process of liquidation does not, in my opinion, foreclose the reemployment right of those employees who have acquired permanent civil-service status. Of course, there can be no reemployment right under section 8 except as there is a reciprocal duty to reemploy. To hold that a particular Government employee has a reemployment right requires ascertaining the person or agency upon whom the reemployment obligation rests. Where the employing agency has gone out of existence since the employee's entrance into the service, there would be no reemployment right unless (1) the employing agency was so integral a part of a larger unit (such as a department) that the obligation can be said to rest upon the larger unit, or (2) the functions and personnel of the employing agency have been transferred to another agency which continues to perform those functions so that the reemployment obligation can be traced to the successor agency. Even where there are no reemployment rights under the test just stated, a veteran having permanent civil-service status is eligible for immediate reinstatement upon the initiative of another agency or department in a position similar to the one he occupied when he entered the armed forces, or in any position for which his qualifications have been established. It is my understanding that the Civil Service Commission has consistently endeavored, as a matter of administrative policy and practice. to find appropriate positions for such employees. The solution of particular cases in accordance with the above expressed principles may become difficult. Bureaus and departmental subdivisions operate within the framework of the existing departments with varying degrees of independence and with varying degrees of attachment to and incorporation within the departmental structure. In addition to the departments, there are governmental agencies such as, for example, the Federal Security Agency, the Federal Works Agency, and the National Housing Agency, which are composed of several coordinate and more or less independent agencies grouped under a single head for administrative purposes. Governmental reorganizations whereby agencies are transferred from one department or agency to another, or are split up and transferred in part to several departments or agencies, further complicate the situation. The Attorney General is not called on to decide all of the difficult cases which might arise. I think the authority granted to the Civil Service Commission by the President's letter of February 26, 1944, quoted above, is sufficient to authorize the Commission to adjudicate cases of this type and to determine, when the employing agency has been liquidated, whether reemployment rights exist against another larger unit or against any successor agency or whether such rights have been terminated by the liquidation and, where functions have been transferred, to determine which successor agency, if any, has the reemployment obligation. I note that the Commission has already issued general instructions governing such situations. Federal Personnel Manual, Ch. R6. The Commission has informed me that, in its opinion, the Bituminous Coal Division, the Coal Mines Administration, the Solid Fuels Administration for War, and the War Relocation Authority were all such integral parts of the Department of the Interior that the reemployment obligation should fall upon the department despite their liquidation. I see no reason to question that opinion. Sincerely yours, TOM C. CLARK. APPENDIX UNITED STATES CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION Hon. Tom C. Clark, FEBRUARY 6, 1946. The Attorney General. DEAR MR. CLARK: Further reference is made to your letter of December 19, 1945, concerning the reemployment rights under section 8 (b) of the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, as amended, of employees of the Solid Fuels Administration for War, the War Relocation Authority, the Bituminous Coal Division, and the Coal Mines Administration who entered the armed forces of the United States. The question under consideration is whether positions in these agencies were "other than temporary positions" within the meaning of section 8 (b) of the Selective Training and Service Act so that restoration of an employee is mandatory upon his return from the armed forces. Section 8 of the Selective Training and Service Act (as amended by act of December 8, 1944, 58 Stat. 798) reads in part as follows: * "SEC. 8. (a) Any person inducted into the land or naval forces under this Act for training and service, who, * satisfactorily completes his period of training and service * * * shall be entitled to a certificate to that effect upon completion of such period of training and service, * * "(b) In the case of any person who, in order to perform such training and service, has left or leaves a position, other than a temporary position, in the employ of any employer and who (1) receives such certificate, (2) is still qualified to perform the duties of such position, and (3) makes application for reemployment within ninety days after he is relieved from such training and service or from hospitalization continuing after discharge for a period of not more than one year "(A) if such position was in the employ of the United States Government, its Territories, or possessions, or the District of Columbia, such person shall be restored to such |