The number of positions in the executive division of the Maryland
State service under the jurisdiction of the Merit System Law when
originally enacted and those that have been added by subsequent execu-
tive orders gives this State a high rank among governmental units in
the ratio of the classified employees to the total number of employees.
There is no provision in the Law for exempt, non-competitive, or labor
groups of employees in the classified service in recognition of the fact
that all positions which may properly be placed in the classified service
may be handled on the competitive basis. The classified positions range
from those held by the lowest paid employees in the institutions to those
held by the bureau and division chiefs of the various departments.

The provisions of the Law regarding selection, regulation, and separ-
ation of employees acknowledge that a central technical agency is in a
better position to deal with these features of a well-rounded personnel
system than are the individual unrelated departments of government
and that every department has personnel problems sufficiently alike to
make their central control not only practical but also economical.

The Maryland Law provides for a one-man Commission instead of a
multiple board which is recognition of the fact that promptness of ac-
tion and of decision, so necessary in personnel matters, can be expected
when the administrative authority is vested in one person under execu-
tive direction. While this type of organization is unusual in public per-
sonnel administration in the United States, it is the universal type in the
provincial governments of Canada and in private organizations.

By Act of the General Assembly, Session of 1922, Part XVI, Chap-
ter 29, there was established the Department of State Employment and
Registration, to be composed of the State Employment Commissioner and
the various examining and licensing boards of the State, with such ad-
ditional boards as may hereafter be provided for, the head of this de-
partment to be the State Employment Commissioner, and to be known
as the Commissioner of State Employment and Registration.

The chief duties devolving upon the Commissioner are the classifying
and preparing of specifications for all positions in the classified service;
the listing, by appropriate tests, of qualified eligibles for appointment
to vacancies which occur or are created; the regulation of such personnel
matters as, salary adjustments, transfers, promotions, reinstatements,
leaves of absence, and lay-off s; the establishment of procedure to assure
tenure of service to those performing meritorious service; and the pro-
viding of ivays and means for the prompt removal from the service of
those who have become indolent, incompetent, inefficient, or otherwise
unfit to remain therein. The Commissioner is also required to cheek pay-
rolls in advance of the payment of salaries to employees in the classified
service and to certify to the legality of the appointment of such
employees.

The cost of operation of the office of the State Employment Com-
missioner has, each year, been approximately one-half of one percent of
the salary budget for the several departments and institutions of the
executive division of the State government. This is considered a nom-
inal cost for the operation of a personnel system in which the recognized
features of personnel management are handled and, from statistics
available and in the judgment of those who are familiar with the opera-
tion of personnel programs, Maryland ranks among the first, both in
effectiveness and in economy of operation.

 
 
The Thirteenth Annual Report, giving in detail the activities of the
Commissioner for the fiscal year ended September 30, 1933, is available
for distribution upon application to the office of the Commissioner.