Evening star., 1925-03-23
PROSECUTOR JOINS
FIGHT ON BIC FEE
EMPLOYMENT MEN
Swift Justice Promised If
Victims Will Tell of Ex-
Cessive Payments.
ONE GIRL SAYS CHARGES
AMOUNT TO NEARLY SIS
Physician Astounded at Percentage
of Salary His Secretary De-
clared She Was Assessed.

clared She Was Assessed.
Swift justice was promised by the
! corporation counsels Office today for
/ any employment agent accused OF
! violating the law by charging more
than the legal fee of 50 for obtaining
! position for a person seeking work
Edward W. Thomas, assistant cor
| poration counsel, declared that the
hardest task the authorities will have
in prosecuting such persons will be
that Of persuading persons who have
been gouged to make formal COM
! plant against violators and testify
| against them at public hearing.
should any person, however who
! mas paid more than the fee set by
/ law, whether by contract or other
wise, come TO him and make q COM
! plant, Mr.. Thomas said he would i'm
medlately issue an information
against the accused a gent and bring
/ him TO Immediate trial
J One Paid Nearly S75.
! In the meantime more letters are
coming to The Star from young
/ women who declare they were obliged
| to pay eXtortionate rates in order to
obtain employment. One asserted she
/ =
SIS, and is now asked by one of the
! agents to pay an additional $3.50 for
a new position. Her letter follows:
L noted in this mornings Star (the
! letter was dated Sunday the inquiry
! which your paper is conducting into
| the exorbitant rates charged by local
! employment agencies. | should like
TO be advised whether il is true that
50 is the maximum charge allowed by
law
Il have paid one agency s2433 and
! another s42 for positions obtained
through them. I have just now Sc
| cured permanent position at sII0
per month through one of these
agencies, and, therefore. according to
contract, Am liable to the payment
of $3.50 more or % per cent Of my
first months salary.
Ready to Test Charge.
viii you kindly advise me whether
or not this sum can be collected"
When this letter was shown to Mr.
Thomas he said he would be glad 10
make this young womau's experience
the basis of test of the law 1t is
his opinion that the entire transaction
is Illegal, and makes the agent or
| agents having accepted such fees liza
BILE to prosecution. He strongly
urged that the writer of the letter
come to his Office in Police Court,
Sixth and D streets, and make formal
complaint.
1T will not cost such informers a
penny" Mr.. Thomas added Our
ofice will take charge of the prosecu-
| tion, and the information will be
issued free Of charge. The only
thing we will ask of the complainants
is that they appear at the trial and
testify against the agent who has
overcharSed them
Action Is Threatened.
Still another young woman called
The Star by telephone and asked il
she had read correctly the expose
] printed in The Star yesterday Upon
/ being informed that she had, she de-
, clared she would begin action imme-
diately TO compel the agent who
charged her an exorbitant fee to re-
turn all but the So permitted by law.
! Scarcely had she completed her
conversation when prominent
physician called The Star. MY sec
/ retary just came in to take some die
tation and called my attention to your
story of yesterday" he said. She
tells me she paid one agent a total
of $50 for getting her this position
and another one. I had no idea she
had been asked 10 pay so much
The first position the agency E,r
for her was with q local automobile
concern. They took 10 per cent of
her salary during the entire 10 weeks
she worked for the automobile con-
cern. Then they sent her to me and
when she accepted this position on a
permanent basis they charged her an
additional % per cent of her first
months salary here.
Calls Fee Outrageous.
Il think that is outra geous. The
| agent has always sent me very good
workers; my present secretary is a
! Crackerjack. But ! think such a fee
| is entirely too much"
Still a third call was from a young
woman who repeated complaint she
| had received from a trained nurse.
The nurse showed her a sort of con-
tract she had been asked to sign by
one bureau specializing in accredited
graduate, undergraduate, practical
and companion nurses.
UIJter that contract the bureau re-
serv the right to collect a percent
age IF all the money she made from
cases during an entire year. wheSJAr
it obtained the cases for ner or not.
Its fees were placed at per cent on
all cases over $50 and per cent on
all cases under $50. In addition th-
bureau reserved the right to alter"
it's rate with due notice"
The law fixing the fee to be charged
by employment agents places enforce
ment of the statute in the hands or
the Board of Commissioners of the
District. 1t specifies that upon re-
ceipt of formal complaint that any of
the provisions of the law have been
violated the Commissioners shall give
the accused agent due notice of the
complaint and hold a hearing of the
case within one week from the day
the charge was hled.
The Commissioners must render
their decision within eight days from
the time the matter Is finally submit
ted to them. No adjournment of more
than a week during the trial may be
granted If the agent is found guilty
the Commissioners may revoke his
license to practice for a period of "at
least six months" Continuing, the act
reads as follows:
Every violation of any provision
of this act, except as provided in sec
ton 10, shall be punishable by a fine
not to exceed SIS, and in default
thereof the person or persons so of
Tending shall be committed for a
period not to exceed 80 days, and this
penalty shall also include such VIOLA
| tfons of sections for which no pen
atty is prescribed in section TO-"
Section 10 covers the matter OF con-
an par, I|oIIln,,, :