Evening star., 1922-04-26
.BONUSST|LL ISSUE
At PATENT OFFICE

| Claims that Congress meant cm-
| ployes of the patent office to have
| the $40 bonus in addition 10 the re-
| cent increase in salary, and counter
| claims by officials of the Interior De
| partmcnt that the bonus was not in
tended to be added to the Increased
| salary, marked the situation at the
| patent office today, where the next
pay checks are subject of consid-
! cradle anxiety. since the bonus of
! every cmploye was Topped off April
Is.
At the Interior Department, which
has the final judgment in the mat
| ter-for the present at least-it was
reiterated that no ''certification" for
I adding the bonus TO any employees
salary which had been raised more
| than 5000 in the recent increase had
| been made. and that, Furthermore
, there was no intention to certify
any one III that class for the bonus
| Decision rested with the department
it was admitted, to give the bonus
| or withhold ii, and the decision had
! been To withhold il.
Friends of the patent office en-
ployes, many of whom will actually
| receive IA decrease Of income. instead
| of an increase, point to the Congress
sional Record in support of their
claims that Congress meant that the
patent office should get the bonus.
ON January II. it was declared. the
| House of Representatives voted. 80 Il
10. to reject an amendment by Rep.
resentative Stafford. alleged hS
friends Of the employees to discrimi-
nate against the employees.
Representative Stafford. in debate
over his resolution. declared. accord.
ing to the Record. that $3.50 ought
| not to be added to the increased sal
aries as here provided. His amend
ment was at trst agreed to, to 20
but later defeated and not included in
| the act.
Increases in Pay Discussed.
Discussing the increase in pay
! granted by the original bill. Repre-
sentative Stafford, in the Record. said
ger service at sl,0s0. 1t increases tn,
salaries of typists. who are receiving
only $3.50 up to sl,100. This amend
ment is predicated on the idea of TAX
ing care of that feature. If the bill
| becomes a law, we do not wish to ado
$40, when We have already included
that in the framing of the bill. Tha
is the purpose of the amendment.
The House in defeating the amend
ment. friends of the patent office EN-
ployes stated today, clearly put itseli
on record as being in favor of adding
the s240 bonus to the increased
salary.
The amendment provided that sec.
tion of the Legislative act, which
granted the $24o bonus. should no
apply to the patent office. Section
provides that any employe receiving
more than $500 increase shall receiv,
the bonus when certified" by The
head of the department as beins
worthy and able to receive it,
Many VIII suffer Decrease.
Under the operation of the change
at the patent office. there are a mum
Der of employees. il has been learned
who We're granted increases of pa,
by Congress, but who will actual,
suffer decrease when the bonus i:
;, subtracted, and there also are num-
Der who received from Congress
raise of $3.50. but who. when the,
lose the S240 bonus, will receive u ne
raise of only $40.
Much interest is manifested Over
, the coming pay day, the lst of May
and it is expected, as previously eX
. plained. that, according to announce
| ment from the Interior Department
many persons at that time will actu
! ally suffer decrease in pay, insteat
cf obtaining an increase.
| Further complication ehters the sit
uation, il was explained, in the fac
that part of the employees Were sworl
| in to new positions under the ac
!, granting raises. and others held L
: their old positions. Those who wer
: sworn in received the increase grant
. ed by Congress only back to Marc
) 20. while those not sworn into ney
> positions received the increase bacl
a to February Is. the date of the Presi
dents signature.
Hope that all employees of the pat
: ent Office who may lose the s24
bonus on account of recent 'increas
: in pay by act of Congress may ulti
r mately be repaid the bonus. when tn
e matter is brought before the con
: troler general. looms as a late de
$ velopment il the situation whc
> has deeply disturbed personnel at th
$ office. Action of the office of tn
Secretary of Interior in refusing t
certify such employees to receive tn
t bonus was held in certain quarters t
Il
/ the departmental head. but it wa
| deemed by some that the Secretar
thad authority to allow the bonus t
/ such employees. and in the same cir
e cles it was believed that the actio
S depriving the employees of the addi
i tional pay had been taken more as
/ precautionary measure in order to b
e carefully within the law.
t At the Office of the Secretary of In
: terror it has been announced tina
there would. according to preser
prospects, be about 100 employe
who would lose the bonus betwee
now and the 1st of July, when TIL
bonus will automatically expire, un
less renewed by Congress. 1t wa
1 learned that certain reports ha
n placed the number of those to lose til
K bonus at los, but that this numbe
}, had been entirely tentative.
:. The right of the disbursing clerk
: deduct from future pay days, III
i amount of bonus overpaid by mistake
). since the raise in pay by Congress
Y went into effect. was held to be in
e contestable in authoritative. circle
At the Treasury Department ii wa
: said that disbursing officers. who ar
I under heavy bond. Fare authorized an
d often do. make deductions in ordt
d to straighten out errors, which ot
= sioua1ly occur