Executive Order 8339 Constitutional Friction / Overreach (-0.19)

Executive Order 8339—Authorizing the Civil Service Commission To Confer a Competitive Classified Civil-Service Status Upon Certain Employees Assigned to the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor

•

Tuesday, February 6, 1940

•

1 min read (176 words)

Plain-English Translation & Framers' Constitutional Analysis

Early Statesman synthesis distilling legal jargon into practical meaning, statutory anchors, and structural constitutional impacts.

This executive order, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on 1940-02-06, establishes federal administrative policy concerning "Authorizing the Civil Service Commission To Confer a Competitive Classified Civil-Service Status Upon Certain Employees Assigned to the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor." It is a direct, concise executive instruction delivering focused administrative or military commands to department leadership.

Constitutional Assessment: An early statesman would subject this decree to rigorous scrutiny under Article I, Section 8. The Framers deliberately committed commerce, taxation, tariffs, and revenue to Congress alone. To the extent this order imposes duties or financial burdens without explicit statutory pre-authorization, it creates friction with the separation of powers.

Key Directives & Operative Actions

▪ Formal executive instruction issued by the President establishing official administrative policy on Authorizing the Civil Service Commission To Confer a Competitive Classified Civil-Service Status Upon Certain Employees Assigned to the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners 🏛️ Financial Institutions & Monetary Authorities

Total Words

176

1,092 characters

Estimated Read Time

1 min

@ 200 words / min

Flesch-Kincaid

Post-Grad reading level

Constitutional Polarity

-0.19

Framers' Alignment index

📜

Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 8339, Franklin D. Roosevelt (Feb 6, 1940). Available at https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-8339-authorizing-the-civil-service-commission-confer-competitive.

Official Document Text

Source: The American Presidency Project (UCSB Archive)

Original Source →

By virtue of the authority vested in me by paragraph Eighth of subdivision SECOND of section 2 of the Civil Service Act (22 Stat. 403, 404), the Civil Service Commission is hereby authorized to confer a competitive classified civil-service status upon those employees of the former Works Progress Administration, the former Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works, the former National Emergency Council, and the Office of the Commissioner of Accounts and Deposits of the Treasury Department, who were assigned to the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor and who were serving in that Division on May 15, 1939: Provided, (1) that such employees are certified by the Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division as having rendered satisfactory service; (2) that they qualify in such appropriate noncompetitive examination as may be prescribed by the Civil Service Commission; (3) that they are citizens of the United States; and (4) that they are not disqualified by any provision of section 3 of Civil Service Rule V. FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT The White House, February 6, 1940.