§ 351. “Transfer of Officers.”
OBJECT OF SECTION.—The object of this section is to prevent any hardship to the officers of transferred departments by reason of their change of masters. Many of them would, under the public service laws of their respective States, have become entitled to pensions or retiring allowances; many more, though not yet so entitled, would have inchoate or accruing rights on which they had based legitimate expectations. It was necessary to give the Federal Government an entirely free hand in the organization of the Public Service of the Commonwealth and in the appointment and dismissal of officers; but it was thought fair that the existing and accruing rights of the officers of the transferred departments should be expressly recognized in the Constitution, and that the respective responsibilities of the States and the Commonwealth in this respect should be clearly defined.
Two events had to be provided for: the event (which would probably be exceptional) of any such officer not being retained in the service of the Commonwealth, and the event of his being so retained.
(1.) With regard to any officer whose services are not required by the Commonwealth, the refusal of the Commonwealth to employ him is treated as being equivalent to the abolition of his office by the State, so that he will be entitled to claim from the State any compensation payable under the law of the State on such abolition. An exception, however, is made in the event of his being appointed by the State to some other office of equal emolument.
(2.) Any officer retained in the service of the Commonwealth is allowed to carry with him the benefit of the public service laws of his State, so as to preserve “all his existing and accruing rights.” His rights of retirement, and of pension or retiring allowance, continue to be governed by the law of the State, as though he were continuing in the service of the State—except that such rights are now rights against the Commonwealth. When such pension or retiring allowance becomes payable, the officer himself looks only to the Commonwealth; but the Commonwealth has recourse against the State for a part thereof, based on the calculation prescribed.
The last paragraph provides for a different class of cases. If, by arrangement between the Commonwealth and a State, any public officer, not belonging to one of the transferred departments, is transferred to the public service of the Commonwealth, he is to have the same rights as if he had been an officer of a transferred department, and were retained in the service of the Commonwealth.