Evening star., 1935-08-31
The Compensation Board.

The Commissioners have mace gooo
start in administering the Districts un-
employment insurance act by selecting
John Locher, president of the Central
Labor Union, and Daniel j. Callahan,
prominent business man, as the repre-
sentatives Of the employees and en-
ployers, respectively, on the new Com
pensation Board to be established under
the act. Both men enjoy the respect
and confidence of the community. They
have been identified with civic move
ments for many years and may be
counted upon not merely to protect the
special groups they represent, but to
work for the best interests of the COM
munity.
The Commissioners insisted and
finally persuaded Congress that the
local unemployment insurance act should
be locally administered. and the re-
sponsibility they now inherit is no small
one. The original Ellenbogen act pro-
vided for administration by the Ma
tional Social Security Board, stipulating,
as a gesture to local sentiment, that an
advisory commission Of three members
be named with certain vague duties and
practically no authority or responsibility.
The Senate amendments, to which Mr..
Ellenbogen gracefully agreed, provide
for administration by the District Com
pensation Board, to be composed OF the
Commissioners and the two represent
aives of the public just named. There
is later to be named an executive di-
rector, who will execute the policies of
the board.
While the payroll tax, which will fur
nish the larger portion of revenues for
unemployment compensation, does not
become effective until the first of next
year, there is much to be done in prepara-
tion, not only for tax collection, but in
arranging for administration of an act
that will present many new and COM
plicated issues. The act affects prac-
tically every employer in the District.
The employees potentially eligible to re-
ceive benefits have been estimated as OF
1888 at about 100000, and the number
has increased with returning prosperity.
Any employe who has been engaged
for thirteen weeks in the preceding year,
who has been able to work and available
for work, and who has served a waiting
period of three weeks before benefits
commence and who is not engaged in
strike or jurisdictional labor dispute will
be eligible for benefits. But before the
payment of benefits he must be able to
demonstrate that he has not refused to
accept suitable" employment; that he
did not quit work voluntarily and was
not discharged for misconduct. And he
must demonstrate afi1rmatively his will
lingness to accept new employment,
should it be found for him by the board.
These requirements alone-and there
are, of course, many other details-indi-
cate the intricate nature Of the admin
istrative task set for the board. There
are necessarily going to be hundreds OF
border-line cases necessitating hearings
and decision on the basis Of contro-
versial evidence. The employe must be
protected in his rights, the employer
must be safeguarded against malinger-
ing. The one responsibility which the
board escapes is the proper investment
and handling of the unemployment COM
pensation reserves, which In q few years
of good business may assume large pro-
portions. This fund will be handled by
the Treasury, which will receive and
administer the reserves accumulated by
the States as well as the District
The personnel of the local board will
undoubtedly be large, and at the end
of a few years may be one of the
largest divisions of the local govern
ment. One immediate policy which the
board might settle at the outset is that
all personnel is to be selected and re-
tanned on the basis Of merit and merit
alone. Injection Of patronage politics
into the boards affairs-complicated
enough-will prove burdensome and
unwieldy handicap.