ANNUAL REPORT BENEFITS AND COUNSELING BRANCH BENEFITS AND SERVICES DVISION OFFICE OF PERSONNEL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-01826R000200030007-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 14
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 27, 2001
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: June 30, 1964
• Content Type: REPORT

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ANNUAL REPORT
BENEFITS AND COUNSELING BRANCH
BENEFITS AND SERVICES DIVISION
OFFICE OF PERSONNEL
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SECTION I
MAJOR ACCOMPLISIThENTS AND SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENTS
1 JULY 1963 - 30 JUNE 1964
Included in this report is a statistical summary which,
when studied with the narrative comments, will reveal a heavier
workload than in previous years and a continuation of the high
level of activity attained by the Branch in other reporting
periods.
It should be noted at the outset that the number of man-
hours devoted to Branch programs cannot be measured entirely
by the statistical reporting of cases handled. Within each
activity, cases will require a varying degree of time and
effort. For example, some death cases require extensive after-
hours activity, frequent contacts with the next of kin, liaison
within the Agency and with other Federal agencies, and often
with private attorneys; others may require little activity of
this type. While some cases can be processed in a few weeks,
others often require months of continued effort. The same is
true with respect to medical claims, retirement, and our other
programs.
General Comments
The Benefits and Counseling Branch, Benefits and Services
Division, has = employees assigned to its staff: the Branch
Chief, Deputy Branch Chief, nine Technicians and six clerical
employees.
The Branch is responsible for many and varied programs,
some of which are required by Statute, while others are ser-
vices rendered to and for Agency personnel. These programs
are:
Statutory Programs
1. Federal Employees' Compensation Act
2. Overseas Medical Benefits for Employees and
Dependents
3. Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance
4. Civil Service Retirement
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1. Casualty Assistance Program
2. Exit Processing
3. Personal Affairs Counseling
4. Assistance on Problems of Former Employees
5. Blood Donor Program
6. Income Tax Assistance
7. Absentee Voter Assistance
8. Religious Services
9. PSAS Support
10. Welfare Assistance Board Support
11. Bulletin Boards
12. Car Pool Locator
13. Vital Papers Program
A careful review of the statistical data portion of this
report will show an increase of more than 10% in the overall
workload of the Branch for FY 1964 over FY 1963. This increase
in workload was handled without an increase in personnel and in
spite of extremely crowded and bad working conditions for the
first half of the year. Also during this period, four of the
Technicians and the Branch Chief were newly assigned to the
Branch replacing experienced personnel who retired or were re-
assigned by the Career Service Board. This required considerable
training time by senior staff members and a period of orientation
before the new personnel reached an adequate production level.
Casualty Program
1. This program was unusually active during FY 1964 for
two reasons: (1) there were 42 deaths of Agency personnel:
39 Staff Employees, two Contract Employees, and one Career Agent;
and (2) several were unusually complicated. The established
procedures have proved adequate to take care of the varied
individual problems that developed in each case.
2. As in past years, heart conditions continued to be the
leading cause of death. Of the 42 deaths, fifteen were the
result of heart conditions, ten were accidental, seven resulted
from cancer, and there were ten deaths from varying causes. The
latter category included suicide, kidney failure, cerebral hemor-
rhage, ulcer complications, Hodgkin's disease, and pulmonary
embolism. The average age of the employees who died was 44.7 years.
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The table below gives the deaths by age group.
EMPLOYEE DEATHS - FY 1964
(By Age Group)
AGES NO. OF DEATHS
20-25 4
26-30 4
31-35 4
36-40 1
AGES
NO. OF DEATHS
46-50
2
51-55
9
56-60
8
61-63
2
41-45 8 Total 2
3. There were six deaths of dependents of Agency employees
overseas which required some action by the Branch. Deaths of
dependents of domestic Agency employees are not reported routinely
to the Branch.
Retirement Program
1. The Branch activity in the retirement field has again
shown a marked increase over past years, and will continue to
increase in the coming years as more Agency personnel will enter
the retirement eligibility zone. The Senior Retirement Techni-
cian retired in April 1964 and as a result, many manhours have
been required in training new personnel to handle the increased
workload in this program. The Retirement Technicians conducted
interviews during FY 1964, a 10% increase over the 1874 con-
ducted in FY 1963.
2. The number of retirement applications processed increased
from 131 to 142 for this period. Of the total of 142, 82 were
optional retirement, 46 were for disability retirement, 9 were
for discontinued service, and 5 were mandatory.
4. The new procedures implemented last year for handling
the processing of retirement records have proved adequate.
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Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance
As shown in the statistical report, there were 35 death
claims during this period for a total of $412,000. There were
149 Waivers of FFGLI processed and 45 persons requested that
their insurance be re-instated.
1. There has been a marked increase of = cases in the 25X9
number of overseas medical claims in this reporting period.
This is accounted for by the fact that the cost of treatment in
military hospitals increased from $5 to $39 a day. Prior to
this increase, many dependent claims amounted to $35 or less
and were referred to the Insurance Branch for processing since
the dependent program does not cover the first $35. Since
these new rates were effective only for the last half of the
reporting period, it is anticipated there will be a further
increase in the number of cases for Fiscal Year 1965.
2. Because of the increased military rates as well as the
broadening of the overseas program to include more out-patient
expenses, the cost of the programs increased from $79,000 to
$111,153.97 or over 400. This increase made it necessary to
request additional funds in the amount of $23,000 during the
last quarter of Fiscal Year 1964.
3. After conferences with the Office of General Counsel,
it has been determined that employees may be reimbursed for
medical expenses incurred after reporting PCS to duty if other-
wise eligible under the Overseas Hospitalization Program. The
Branch Chief has met with members of the Medical Staff to
determine the length of time the benefits of the program will be
available after the employee's return to duty, and in the near
future, a decision will be made. This extension of the program
will undoubtedly increase the cost of the program as well as the
number of claims. This change in the employee program rectifies
a situation which has caused dissatisfaction, confusion and fi-
nancial hardship for employees who, through no fault of their
own, reported for duty prior to determination that hospitaliza-
tion was required for a condition which occurred abroad.
4. The handbooks and regulations for the overseas programs
25X1A have been revised to bring them up
to date. They are still in coordination but when finally issued,
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they should facilitate the processing of all types of claims
since more detailed information is given. In addition, the
revised handbooks should eliminate the necessity for writing
lengthy explanatory dispatches.
5. As the statistical report shows, the total number of
overseas medical claims processed was 448, which included 280
dependent and 168 employee claims.
Federal Employees' Compensation Act Claims
1. The training course for Branch technicians covering
all phases of processing claims under the Federal Employees'
Compensation Act was not held within the reporting period.
It is hoped that it can be arranged during the coming year.
2. There has been an increase in the number of BEC claims
this year over that of the previous year. It is felt that this
increase may be accounted for by the continuing efforts by
Branch representatives to advise Headquarters employees as well
as support personnel going to the field of the various statutory
benefits available. Also station personnel at
M were briefed by Branch representatives on this as well as
other BCB programs.
3. Five hundred seventy-four claims were filed under the
Federal Employees' Compensation Act. Of this number, 174 were
processed with the Bureau of Employees' Compensation.
Counseling
1. As may be noted in the statistics below, the counseling
activity for the Fiscal Year 1964 has continued at what might be
described as a moderate rate in view of the lack of the open
publicity about the counseling service. Although actual statis-
tics weren't compiled, a definite impression has been created
that many of those seeking counseling assistance did so by (1)
noting the existence of the counseling function in the phone
book and (2) asking their supervisor where they might discuss
personal problems. This impression suggests that the need
definitely exists for the development of a greater counseling
capability, particularly if the counseling, as a specific service,
were to be highly publicized and subsequently accepted by the
Agency population as a whole. In this regard, it may be noted
that among the various types of counseling performed the frequency
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of the personal counseling was the greatest.
2. During this Fiscal Year, there were 97 counseling
cases that involved 142 counseling sessions. These cases
fell into four major categories:
NO. OF CASES
Personal Problems
41
Financial Problems
24
Job Related Problems
19
PSAS Requests
13
In addition, there were 150 debt complaints on 87 Agency per-
sonnel, 48 of whom were first offenders. It should be noted
that 22 of the individuals involved resigned or were terminated
during the year.
Welfare Assistance Board
1. The Welfare Assistance Board (WAB) approved 19 loans
totaling 1,830.00 for the Fiscal Year 1964.
2. The WAB continues to render assistance to employees
who need a relatively small sum to extricate themselves from a
momentarily difficult financial problem. The vast majority of
the loans approved for the past Fiscal Year were for the pur-
pose of replacing salary checks that had either been delayed in
their being issued or which had been lost. A sizeable portion
of the income of WAB has been absorbed by the Employee Activities
Association; e.g., since the Activities Association expanded its
program, it has absorbed 73-20 of the WAB income during this
Fiscal Year. However, it is anticipated that the Employee
Activities Association will be able to develop other sources of
income so that the Welfare Assistance Board can maintain a cash
balance sufficient for its needs. This presupposes that the
number of loans approved by the Welfare Board will remain about
the same for each fiscal year, and that grants to employees and
uncollectable loans will not increase significantly.
Savings Bond Program
1. For the third consecutive year, keymen were used during
the Agency's 1964 Savings Bond Campaign which was conducted
11-22 May 1964. The promotion included the following:
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a. Promotional leaflets distributed to all vouchered
personnel with pay checks on 8 May 1964
b. Posters displayed on bulletin boards during the
drive period
c. Briefing of approximately _ keyman-canvassers
in the Agency auditorium
d. At the time of the briefing, a promotional movie,
obtained from the Treasury Department, Savings
Bond Division, was shown.
2. Results of the year-long program and two-week campaign
are shown below:
Bond Sales
a. No. of Bonds Sold
b. Maturity Value
Net Gain
FY 1964 FY 1963 Number Percentage
$1,976,825 $1,702,475 $274,350 16.1%
Payroll Savers
at Year End
Vouchered
Confidential Funds
Total
Blood Donor Program
1. The Red Cross Bloodmobile first came to Headquarters in
January 1963, and since that time it has made monthly visits as a
Agency Blood Donor Program. Employees at
Bloodmobile once each quarter. Their first donor day was in May
1963.
have been participating in the Blood Donor ogram a
We exan is Red Cross Chapter House every other month since
March 1963. NPIC employees participate in the Navy Department
2. The table below shows that there has been a steady
increase since the Bloodmobile first came to Headquarters in
January 1963.
GROUP 1
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FY 1964 FY 1963 FY 1962
No. of Pints Collected
Blood replacements have increased slightly from last year with
151 pints replaced in FY 1964 as compared to 135 pints in FY 1963.
3. The Branch arranged a program in the Agency auditorium
where the DDCI presented 19 employees with Red Cross pins for
having donated three or more gallons of blood. The total number
of employees donating more than a gallon of blood now is 412.
Exit Processing
1. This activity has been unusually active during this
reporting period, and as with the other BCB programs this one
has shown an approximate increase of 10% over last year.
2. In November 1963, a new handbook on exit processing
25X1A was published, - which changed the procedure for pro-
cessing separating employees. After a few weeks of operating
under these new procedures, it became obvious that certain
changes were necessary. Accordingly, a revision of the handbook
has been prepared and is now being coordinated by the Plans and
Review Staff. Also, plans have been made for an "Exit Processing
Center" where separating employees will obtain the necessary
clearances on their last day without having to go to the many
offices requiring clearances. It is hoped that with the imple-
mentation of the new handbook and the establishment of the "Exit
Processing Center" the actual processing of separating employees
will be simplified and less time will be required.
3. The statistics for this program will be found in the
statistical data portion of this report.
1. The Branch Chief and two senior staff members briefed
on the various BCB
programs with particular emphasis on the Statutory Programs.
These briefings have proved well worth the expense and time in
that the cases submitted since that time
have been more complete an have requ re i tle additional
information or clarification.
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2. Arrangements were made for religious services at
Christmas and during the Lenten season. Services were con-
ducted on each Wednesday during Lent in the Agency auditorium,
25X9 with _ persons attending the Catholic Service and _
persons attending the Protestant Service. Passover Services
were also held with 52 persons attending.
3. A decentralized income tax service was repeated for
the second year; 48 students representing Support Offices
throughout the Agency attended a 2-day course conducted by IRS
and sponsored by BCB. These personnel were able to furnish
assistance as requested. BCB also acted as a central control
point for forms, both State and Federal, and for difficult and
unusual questions.
4. The two Agency bulletin boards are serviced by BCB
and during this reporting period, 1976 notices were posted,
averaging 38 per week.
5. The Branch also furnished Notary Public services.
25X9 There were a total of= notarial transactions in the year.
This included special services to the DCI, DDCI, and Executive
Director.
6. In July 1963, a Car Pool Locator was set up in J
corridor on the first floor near the Credit Union. Since that
time, many Agency personnel have used this to assist them in
arranging car pools or transportation to and from work.
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PLANS FOR FISCAL YEAR 1965
1. It is hoped that the plans for an "Exit Processing
Center" will be implemented during the coming year. Plans for
the physical arrangement of such a center have been given to
the Space Allocation Branch, Office of Logistics. The revised
handbook and clearance form are now being coordinated and should
be available for use early in FY 1965.
2. Should the Agency's proposed Retirement Legislation
pass the Congress, it will have a major impact on the Branch in
that the number of retiree interviews and actual retirement
cases will be greatly increased.
3. As a result of a specific proposal solicited by the
Inspector General's Staff, relative to the implementation of a
centralized counseling service, it is hoped that a more effec-
tive counseling program can be realized.
ii. Plans for a training course for Branch Technicians
covering all phases of processing claims under the Federal
Employees' Compensation Act to be conducted by the Bureau of
Employees' Compensation, Department of Labor, have been for-
mulated and we expect that the course will be conducted in the
fall of 1964.
5. It is hoped that a representative of BCB together with
a representative of the Insurance Branch will make a trip to
acquaint the support personnel in foreign stations of the pro-
grams of the Benefits and Counseling Branch. In this connection,
it is also proposed that a program to advise support personnel
in the area Divisions of the BCB activities in order that per-
sonnel departing for overseas assignments will be aware of the
various programs and benefits available to them as Agency em-
ployees.
6. In order to identify the problems incident to Employee
Emergencies, meetings will be held during this reporting period
with the Employee Emergency Officers to find what the problems
are and suggest improved procedures in these type cases.
7. The Headquarters Employee Bulletin has proved most
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useful in disseminating information on Branch activities to
Agency employees. It is planned to utilize this mechanism
more during the coming months to keep Agency employees in-
formed of new or changing programs.
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PLANS FOR FISCAL YEAR 1966
At this time, we are anticipating no major program
changes for Fiscal Year 1966.
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