Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-02-20
PAY FOR OVERTIME WORK
Commissioner Hurts Report on Letter Oar.
riers' Claims.
They Began Daily Operations Ahea,
of the Schedule Time-Method
of Calculating.

| A. B. Hurt, a commissioner of the Court
| of Claims, who has for a long time been in
| vestiSating and passing upon the overtime
| claim of letter carriers throughout the
| country recently made report to the De-
| partment of Justice the claims OF the
| Washington letter carriers.
| The report will be prepared by the de-
partment and submitted to the Court of
| Claims, which will enter judgments and
| certify these judgments to Congress. An
| effort will be made to have the certificates
| sent to Congress in time to be included in
| the deficiency bill.
About one hundred and twenty claims
have been awarded by Mr. Hurt. who spent
| considerable time in investigating the
| claims, taking the testimony of various off,
| Gals familiar with the cases. 1t is stated
| that the claims of the Washington letter
| carriers are much less than in other cities
| where in some cases claims of from 81 900
| to S1,20O were awarded
| In his report relative to the Washington
carriers MIR. Hurt said:
| Reported Before Schedule Time.
| This is the first examination of this
| office by commissioner of the Court of
| Claims. Most of the carriers at this office
| We're paid by the Post Office Department in
! 1880 for overtime from May ~, 1855. to De-
! cember IA, 1888 From the latter date it is
| believed, the books show the time correctly
| except mat the carriers reported and went
| to work in advance of the schedule time
| principally for the first trip of the day The
| rules at that time did not prohibit the car
| rlerS from reporting and commencing work
IN advance of the schedule time, but they
| were not allowed to record any time earlier
| than the schedule line. 1t was personally
| known to the timekeeper in charge of the
carriers in the morning that they went TO
/ ~ of tl.as cob. y1rpt.,
! Mr.. Clark, timekeeper, testified that ii
| was necessary for the carriers to commence
| work in advance of the schedule time in
! the morning in order to enable them to get
| out on time. The superintendent and assist
| ant superintendent of carriers did not usu-
| ally arrive at the Office until after the
| schedule time the carriers We're required to
report They, however, knew that the car
| riers were to some extent working in ad-
| vance of the schedule time and they did
! not prohibit it. Henry Sherwood who was
| postmaster at this time has removed from
| the city, and his testimony was not OBJ
| tanned. / am convinced that the carriers
| did more or less work i'll advance of the
| schedule time, and that this enabled them
| to get out on their trips and return there
| from earlier than would otherwise have
| been the case, thus shortening the time as
| shown on the books In view of these
facts. have thought it just that some adj
| dition should be made to the time on the
| books for this work in advance of the
| schedule. ] have, therefore, added to the
| time on the books fifteen minutes a day for
four-trip carriers and ten minutes day for
| the two and three-trip carriers No addi-
| ton has been made for collectors or for car
| riers serving bumper delivery routes The
| foregoing applies only to the central office
| and East Capitol street station, no over
| time being made at the southwest and
Georgetown station.
| Il have taken individual averages of over
| time from the books in the case of each
| carrier and while this has been quite tedi-
Gus and lahorious, it has resulted in a more
accurate and satisfactory determination of
| the overtime. The footings of the hours of
daily work the books were often found
| to be incorrect, and corrections had to be
made in such cases. No interval of actual
| idle time has been included. The overtime
found is in each case the average from the
books after adding time for reporting in
advance of the schedule, as before stated.
IN making this report L have been gov
erned by the opinion of the court, as stated
| in the case of Dorsey H. Seville, Charles
Rittenhoure, James H. Byram, letter car
| riers Washington, D. c., VS.. The United
States.
No overtime is recomme nded after April
80, 1888"
Letter Carriers Concerned.
The following letter carriers are among
those who will be given judgment: Jacob
S. Allen, H. O. St. c.. Ambrose Arthur NJ
Appler, John S. Balm, Andrew Barnes Har-
ry S. Barrick, George L. ". Banm, Arthur
]. Beall David L. Berkeley, S. D. Boss,
Philip H. Branson, Daniel E. Brewer VIM.
B. Britain, Eugene r. Burdine, Charles S.
Busby. John d. Butler, James H. Byram,
jr.. James w. Calhoun, Robert L. Camp
bell. Albert Crew, Bolton A. Crew, James
w. Carroll Thomas A. Carroll Charles A.
Champ, Henry l.. Clark. John +. Clark
Howard Clements. William A. Clements,
Harry E. Connor, William H. Cohen, Will
lam S. Crawford, Charles C. Crouth. John
w. Curry, James A. Darnell, Herman w
Davis. Herman F Denham John f Den
nison, Anthony L. Dennson, Samuel w.
Delzell, Henry d. Dixon, George E. Dom,
William H. Douglass. NJ. P. Eppley Amos
w. Ferris, William E. Fletcher, French L.
Floyd, Richard ]. Flood, Arthur Fowler
George 7. Gallaher John S. George, James
of Henry C. Gonzenbauch; VIM. P. Gray
William F. Gross, John W. Cunning, Ar
thur E. Hamacher, Robert B. Hamilton,
William H. Hazard. Charles Hangerback,
John ]. Hill, John P. Hoge, Alex. NJ.
Holmes, Walter R. Hopkins, Oscar NJ
Huguely John c; King. John ]. King.
liam M. Larcomb, William II. Lewis, Geo.
H. Malone, William II. Marshall, Benjamin
F. Martin, John Mccormick, Edward 7.
McNerhany, Charles d. Neither, Luther
H. Middlehauff, William E. Monroe Edw
d. Maroney, John B. Moses, Charles L.
Murphy, ]. William Murphy, William F.
O'Beirne, Daniel O'Nell, William II. Oliver
Clayton I. osborne, JOhn b. y. Ourand,
Geo S. Perrott, Richard B. Peters, Frank
Rebstock, Charles E. Rittenhouse, Chas
F. Rose, John I. Sanderson, JOS Schultz,
Charles II. Scott, Allen r. Searle, Dorsey
F. Seville, Charles w. Sherwood. LemueI
J. Shaw George F. Smith, John II. Smith,
Robert Stewart, Rufus B. Stokes, Schell
III. Stutzman, Frank b. Swiggard, Charles
W. Swingle. William D. Tabler Henry G.
, Tegeler. Henry A. Tolson, Harry c. Torney,
son of James II. Torney, deceased; Robert
S. Trimb1e. Charles L. Ulrich, Joseph Van
Fleet, VIII am S. Van Fleet, William E.
Vaughan, Adolph Van Reuth, jr, William
E. Noeelson. William F. Waggoner, Eugene
L. Walter, Chas. Webel, Jacob A. Weugle,
William F. Wheatiey, Emory A. Wilbur.
Frederick A. Wilker, George Z. Winkel-
man, Charles B. Wood, John B. Woodfield.
James A. Wormley, John W. X. Young,
Joseph w. Zimmerman.
The claims allowed run from so cents to
sou The commissioner cut down all the
accounts considerably.