Catch-22 at HEW

When Andrew Bavas learned that he was to receive an automatic pay increase of $1,272 from the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, an unheard-of notion came over him: to help in the fight against excessive Government spending, he would reject the raise. Ex: plains Bavas, 49, who was working under a HEW contract at Northwestern University as an expert on intergovernmental affairs: "I really didn't need the money. I had no debts, and my mortgage ends in two years."

For this noble gesture, Bavas won no applause, no commendations. Instead, HEW officials in Washington told him that it is illegal for a Government employee to turn down a pay increase; otherwise, they explained, some cost-conscious officials might make a habit of pressuring subordinates to do the same. HEW promptly raised his salary to $44,520.

To make sure Bavas got the point that his antibureaucratic behavior would not be tolerated, the officials ordered him transferred to Philadelphia. Said he: "There's no question in my mind that this is a punitive action." Last week, rather than move, he resigned, observing correctly: "I guess I've got no future as a Government bureaucrat."

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