does not have to improve government operations, this assignment was a real success story."

Cooperative Recruiting and Examining

The Mobile, Alabama, Register and Press, in an editorial of October 7, 1972, lauded the opening of the Mobile Intergovernmental Job Information Center:

"Many job hunters in Mobile, as elsewhere,
are unaware of the differences between
Federal and county civil service employ-
ment. Rejected by one agency due to un-
availability of jobs, they have not known that
their talents might possibly be used by the
other civil service employer. But the new
office . . . will now serve in a coordinating
capacity to provide job information for both.
Federal and county employment."

This goes to the heart of what IPA cooperative recruiting and examining is all about. By sharing recruiting and examining services, governments can provide better service to the job-seeking public and take care of their staffing needs more economically. Another 12 cooperative job information centers are operating in Jamaica, New York, Richmond, Virginia, Salt Lake City, Utah, and other areas where public agencies are concentrated. In Florida, cooperative job information centers have been set up in Pensacola, Jacksonville, Tampa, and Orlando as part of a State-wide network.

Other cooperative arrangements have been made for joint examining. This consists of issuing a joint examination announcement, conducting a common examination, and establishing a single list of eligibles for participating governments to use. In 1973, 12 cooperative examining programs were started with 20 State and local governments. One program involves five city and county governments in the vicinity of San Bernardino, California, plus the State of California, and the U.S. Civil Service Commission.

For a Multiplier Effect

Fiscal 1973 saw the establishment of the Personnel Management Information Service (PMIS) in the Bureau of Intergovernmental Personnel Programs. This office keeps a nationwide government clientele up to date on IPA activities so that all jurisdictions can profit from IPA projects. Its quarterly publication, "Summary of Selected IPA

OPENING the Jamaica, N.Y., Intergovernmental Job Information and Testing Center: Harry Bronstein (left), City Civil Service Chairman; George McQuoid, Director, USCSC New York Region; and Michael Scelsi, State Civil Service Commissioner.

Products," provides detailed information on the scope, coverage, and availability of products from IPA-supported activities. A companion series, "Summaries of IPA Projects," describes all grant projects funded under the IPA and many technical assistance projects.

The Personnel Management Information Service provides the same materials to the Commission's regional offices, enabling them to serve the needs of State and local governments within their geographic areas.

State and Local Government Training

The IPA authorizes the admission of State and local employees to Federal agency training courses on a shared-cost basis. The fiscal year saw measurable momentum gained in the sharing of Federal training capabilities with these jurisdictions. While in fiscal 1972 the Commission trained almost 12,000 State and local employees in its own training courses, in fiscal 1973 the number rose to more than 15,000.

In keeping with the New Federalism objective of returning authority and responsibility to the governments closest to the people, the Civil Service Commission has given considerable attention to designing training programs to strengthen the per

sonnel potential of these governments. New courses have been developed and current courses revised to meet their special training needs.

Several new courses have grown out of requirements for particular program effectiveness. One, "Task Analysis and Job Restructuring," was funded by the Department of Labor and developed by the Commission to assist governments participating in the Public Employment Program. Our regional offices provided nationwide delivery of this training during fiscal 1973. The emphasis was on careful assessment of actual job requirements and the use of nontraditional as well as job-related measurement techniques. Over 600 State and local employees attended this course.

Like the Federal Government, many State and local jurisdictions are seeing the necessity to train their managers in constructive labor relations. The Civil Service Commission is providing them. with both technical and professional assistance. Training courses originally developed for the Federal sector have been adapted for particular needs of local jurisdictions. The end products are several handoff course packages grouped into general

labor relations training and specialty collective bargaining workshops. The packages contain teaching outlines, case studies, course notebooks, and other appropriate materials. In addition, in response to one specific problem, the Commission assisted the State of Nevada in a survey of its local needs for labor relations training. This was done by slightly modifying the Commission's model labor relations training-needs instrument a survey instrument developed to determine the labor relations role and training needs of the various levels of the management team.

Two other developments included in last year's report are expected to provide valuable service to State and local governments. Both concern training costs-important to all managers, regardless of the geography of their jurisdictions. The first is the practical cost simulation model the Commission designed for accurately assessing the cost of training. The second, still in a developmental stage, is known as Training Value Model I. The first of a series of such models, it will help managers assess training values, and provide them with the necessary information for selecting the training that is

potentially most effective. Both the cost simulation. model and the training value model are patterned for easy use and have flexible formats. Their future extension to State and local governments will help managers to make realistic cost-benefit analyses of their training activities.

The Commission continued its active program of furnishing consultation, guidance, and assistance on training matters to State and local governments, as well as to officials of Federal agencies. This program included regularly scheduled visits to agencies, and establishment of a system to collect and disseminate training information to Federal, State, and local jurisdictions.

In addition, the Civil Service Commission is continuing to increase its efforts to coordinate training opportunities available to State and local governments. To achieve this objective, the Commission's

regional offices have helped in the organization and operation of Intergovernmental Training Councils. These councils are located in major metropolitan areas, and the membership is comprised of training representatives from all jurisdictions. The intent of the councils is to share training resources and jointly solve training problems within their areas. The chairmanships are rotated among the members.

Also, nationally, the Commission has maintained close liaison with organizations such as the National Area Development Institute and National Training and Development Service to coordinate the types of training services being made available to State and local governments. Both nationally and locally, our training opportunity publications have been expanded to include, where appropriate, information on intergovernmental training opportunities.

The protection of constitutional rights of public employees and applicants for public employment has received increasing attention in the country's courts in recent years. Fiscal 1973 was no exception.

The conclusion of last year's annual report section on significant court decisions noted that many of the areas covered were "far from settled" and anticipated their re-emergence in future reports. The report proved to be an accurate prognosticator.

The area of equal employment opportunity for public employees continues to be very much in the forefront. Perhaps the greatest impact in the equal employment opportunity area has been made by the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972. Under the new EEO Act, the Commission is given responsibility for enforcement of nondiscriminatory employment practices in the Federal service. The Act also provides easy access to the courts by Federal employees who believe they have been the object of discrimination and who pursue the administrative remedies available to them under the Act and Commission regulations.1 This easy access has provided a flood of cases complaining of allegedly discriminatory actions on the part of Federal agencies.

An issue that has arisen in the early court decisions under the Act has concerned the question of its retroactivity to complaints pending on the official date of its enactment. As of this writing,

the district courts that have considered this question have split in their holdings. Four cases have held the Act to be retroactive as to complaints pending with administrative agencies on its effective date, and five cases have held the Act is not retroactive and applies only to acts of discrimination occurring after the effective date of the Act.3

The interpretation of the EEO Act was also called into question on the issue of whether a district court considering an employee's complaint under the Act is limited to making a determination based solely on the administrative record or whether the court should hold a trial de novo with an independent development of the facts. Again, there has been a split of authority with one district court holding that a trial de novo is required by the law,* and another holding that the necessity to hold a trial de novo depends upon the adequacy of the administrative record certified to the court. Only in the event that an administrative record is nonexistent or inadequate would a trial de novo be appropriate.5

During fiscal 1973, interpretations of the EEO Act were in their infancy. It can be anticipated that in fiscal 1974 many more decisions will come down interpreting the Act and reaching substantive issues (on the merits) in the many complaints being brought into the courts.

Also in the equal employment opportunity area,

the courts have continued to question the validity of some employment tests used in a number of jurisdictions to fill public jobs. As noted in last year's annual report, the District Court of the District of Columbia concluded that the Commission's method of validating the Federal Service Entrance Examination was permissible and refused to enjoin its use. Although at Commission request the case was remanded for the Commission to take testimony under Part 300 of the regulations to determine the validity of the plaintiffs' claim that the examination was discriminatory and not job related, the plaintiffs appealed that decision and the case was pending before the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia at the end of the fiscal year. In the few jurisdictions where certain tests have been found not to be job related, the courts have continued to seek ways to remedy the situation."

As noted, this year was no exception to the courts' ever-increasing vigilance regarding the constitutional rights of public employees. It saw an end to the courts' previous struggles with the question of the constitutionality of statutes limiting political activities on the part of public employees. The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of 5 U.S.C. 7324(a) (2), the "Hatch Act," holding that Congress could constitutionally forbid Federal employees from engaging in plainly identifiable acts of political management and political campaigning. On the same day that court held that Oklahoma's "little Hatch Act" proscribing all partisan political activity for State employees was also constitutional.9

However, other constitutional challenges to current personnel laws remain very much alive. In Kennedy v. Sanchez,10 a three-judge district court held that the employee discharge procedures con

constitutional rights of public employees.