The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1938-12-22
THE pOTTERS HERALD
Employers Attempt
lCoutinlled From Pdde Ouel

| (COntlnued from rage. One)
senting the Ohio Manufacturers AS
sociation and other employer groups,
who paraded number of company Of
ficials to the stand to testify that they
did not understand the meaning of
"full time" earnings, and that it would
be impossible to compute workers
earnings on any other basis than that
of actual wages paid.
Also called to testify were Com
missioner Walter j. Mackey, repre-
senting employers on the Commission,
and Commissioner Roberts.
Commissioner Roberts testified that
employers were asked to report "full
time" earnings of their employees in
quarterly wage report to the Com
mission, and less than 81 per cent did
not comply with the request, the mi
nority group offering the excuse that
the request was impossible"
He also testified that the Chamber
of Commerce and various employer
associations had sent bulletins to their
members tending to discourage COM
pliance with the Commissions request
for average wages of their employees
based on "full time" earnings.
Commissioner Roberts told the court
that the Social Security Board has ap-
proved the original rule, but had not
yet approved the rule in dispute, and
had urged the Commission to recon-
slider its adoption, as, in the Boards
opinion, computation of benefits on
the basis of actual earnings did not
carry out the intent of the law.
Employer attorneys based their
arguments on what they termed "am-
biguous" wording of Section 1345-lg
of the law, which reads as follows:
Average weekly wages means
the weekly earnings that an employe
subject to this act would average if
he were employed full time, i. e., the
full number of scheduled or customary
working hours per week in the en-
ployment or employments in which he
is or was engaged prior to applying
for benefits under this act"
Attorneys for the Federation and
others argued that if application of
,, the Commissions rule was allowed, to-
tally unemployed workers would re-
ceive benefits amounts far less than
was intended under the law, and en-
ployers would subsequently have to
contribute less to the maintenance of
the fund.
Another important intent and pur-
pose of the law, the stabilization of
employment, would also be evaded by
the application of the disputed rule
I : Federation attorneys argued, as there
4 would no longer be any incentive to
{ provide as much work as possible for
e e employees as means of reducing the
I contribution rate of employers, which
! will be based on employment records
after 1941.
They also pointed out to the court
that the hs,srWould be further emas.
culated if the rule was allowed tc
stand, as it would be impossible to de,
termine when worker became EN-.
n titled to benefits for partial unemploy
S ment, provided in Section BASIL as
o follows:
t "An individual shall be deemed
partially unemployed in any week OF
k less than full time work if the tota
n remuneration payable to him for such
5. week is less than 6O@s of his average
r weekly wages"
s Attorney Zimmerman, in his argu
y ment before the court, declared: "The
y sooner employers realize that they
must cooperate and stabilize employ
ment the better off this country will
be and the greater amount of pros
perity this nation will enjoy"
TheUnitcd Mine Workers of Ameri
ca entered the case by filing cross
: petition, and were represented il
e court by Attorney Thomas c. Town,
= Charleston, w. Va.
e An intervening petition was tileC
5. by the Consumers League of Ohio
+ through Attorney Marvin C. Harrison
: Cleveland. The Unemployment Com
S pensation Commission was represent
+ ed by Morton B. 1cove of the Attor
ney Generals office.
f Seven employers were represented
h in court by attorneys associated witt
s the law firms Of Squires, Sanders anc
n Dempsey; Vorys, Seymour, Safer ant
y Pease; Eagleson and Laylin, anC
: Vorys and Outhwaite.
k Employers in the case included the
! Brewer Coal Co., Lake county; Sun
day Creek Coal Co., Perry county
Manhattan Coal Co., Athens county
d Hanna Coal Co., Belmont county
: Suit Brothers Mfg. Co., Guernse!
e county; Cambridge Galleries, Guern
S sey county, and the Buckeye Stee
d Castings Co., Franklin county.