Evening star., 1939-06-08
mistakes Barred
In Payments
To Job|ess
Errors in Calculation
Reported Found
By Auditors
BY DON S. WARREN.

BY DON S. WARREN.
Disclosures that mistakes" in
benefit payments to the jobless were
made for months during the last
year-according to reports submitted
to the Commissioners by District
government auditors-today stirred
members of the District Unemploy-
ment Compensation Board.
In one month, according to the
report of the auditors, as much as
IL per cent of the jobless benefit
pay roll of the board was affected
by mistakes" in calculations. In
subsequent months, however, it was
reported, the majority of the mis-
takes were corrected or steps were
taken to bring about adjust
ments."
Commissioner Melvin C. Hazen,
who is chairman of the Unemploy-
ment Compensation Board, an
nounced last night he would re-
quest the board to make a complete
review of the situation.
Report 10 be ASKED.
He said that while the reports Of
the auditors had been considered
at various meetings of the board,
he would ask the director of the
board, John A. Marshall, to submit
a report showing to what extent
past mistakes had been corrected,
to give reasons why mistakes in
benefit payments should have been
continued one month after another
and what steps might be taken to
prevent any continuation of the
same sort of errors in payment in
the future.
Director Marshall today told The
Star Yes, guess we did make a
lot of mistakes during the first six
months tof benefit payments, but
most of these since have been
worked Off.
Il don't see how an agency could
handle such mass of details with
an unframed staff, without expect
ing some mechanical errors. In
some months the entries went as
high as $1,000 or $1,000. During the
first three months of this year. we
estimate, there have been errors in
about 10 per cent of the case loads
but about 10 per cent of these err
rors are frauds on the part of the
claimants-Which would indicate our
mechanical mistakes had been re-
duced to roughly per cent.
I'VE have been prosecuting per-
sons accused of fraudulent claims
or statements and we haven't lost a
case at court yet. I think We have
20 or Is persons in Jail for giving us
false information.
Dependents Unidentified.
According to the auditors reports,
the mistakes" included granting of
benefit payments to cases having
dependents in which the depend
ents were not properly identified; !;
cases of erroneous payments; pay
ments for enormously calculated du-
rations: cases of ineligibles: some
cases of fraud" by applicants and
miscellaneous cases.
In addition the auditors reported
there were in various months lists
of cases in which applicants were
subject to "underpayments,' al
though it was explained that they
were not required by law to make
an audit in such cases.
There was no suggestion in the
reports of the auditors-who began
their work last July /. as part of
the routine plan of operation under
the Social Security Board program
of anything other than the al
legged mistakes had d occurred
through inadvertence in calcula-
ton of the mountainous piles of
claims and records dealing with ap-
plications for payments.
Commissioner HaZen. himself, said
he had known of mistakes" and
efforts to make adjustments in these
cases. and pointed out that the
boards staff was new, the jobless
benefit payment program was new
and that it was to be expected there
would be difficulties at first.
In a report dated February 81,
1889, the auditors reported to Maj.
Daniel j. Donovan, District au-
ditor and budget officer, there was
a list of 126 cases of "underpay-
ments" The report added that
the errors of underpayments were
caused mostly by careless compu-
tations of incomplete search of
available records prior to the orr
ginal computations of claims" Some
of these cases, the auditors said,
as of last February, had not then
been adjusted, although it was noted
that the D. U. C. Board con-
templated action in the near fu-
ture." This report had reference
to findings in the audit of the ac-
counts of October, 1888, bentfit
payments.
Requests Made for Data.
The reports were made public,
late yesterday, primarily as a re-
suit of a request for them, filed with
the Commissioners by Sidney Katz,
secretary of the Maryland District
Industrial Union Council. Mr.. Katz,
incidentally, is one of the agents of
groups who are seeking to have the
size of benefit payments increased,
as opposed to many other groups
who are demanding passage of a
bill, now pending before the House,
which would give the Commissioners
authority to reduce the taxes on en-
ployes, in view of the fact that the
D. U. C. Board now has a reserve
on deposit at the United States
Treasury amounting to some $13,-
OOO,O 900.
On this point Commissioner
Hazen said today that totally aside
from the question of alleged under
payments" or the alleged mistakes
in payments given, the size of the
reserve shows that the Commits
sioners were correct in sponsoring
a bill which would permit them to
reduce employer taxes, within Ger
tain specified limits.
The chief auditor assigned to the
routine post-audit of payments
r,odo hv Dirocfor AEorc},oO of fho