Authority for Retroactive Implementation of Pay Increases

The Chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Panama Canal, requested an opinion as to whether the Canal Zone Government has the authority to implement for its employees the retroactive portion of salary increases granted to District of Columbia police, firefighters, and teachers. The Canal Zone Government may not implement the pay increases retroactively under the authority of section 144(c) of title 2 of the Canal Zone Code, since the corresponding increases for the categories of employees of the District of Columbia upon which comparability is based are no longer established by an act of Congress.