Evening star., 1945-05-16
Veterans
HereFiIeC|ainls
For JobIess Aid
400 of $500 District
Men Draw Benefit
Checks Each Week


OF the 5000 veterans who have re-
turned to Washington from the
armed forces, 1858 have filed claims
for unemployment compensation, or
the $20-a-week REIMBURSEMENT al
lowance" provided in the CT Bill OF
Rights, it was learned today.
District employment officials give
a variety of reasons to explain why,
with Washington suffering an acute
manpower shortage and $4,000 job
openings to be filled, nearly 400
veterans week are drawing Fed
eral benefits as unemployed men.
They claim a number of the men
are suffering from physical handi-
caps which limit the number of
jobs they can do, that some never
held jobs before they entered the
service and therefore are trained
only as Army specialists, that some
are holding out for stable. perma-
nent jobs-particularly Government
work.
Moreover, it was pointed out that
one of the purposes of the GI bill
was to give returning service per-
sonnel a chance to look around"
and get settled in their new" civil
ian status. An Army survey some
time ago showed that a large pro-
portion of service men and women
did not plan to return to their old
jobs, but hoped to get better ones
after the war, especially those who
have acquired special skills in Army
and Navy training schools.
Can Suspend Payments.
The District Unemployment Com
pensation Board puts it's position
this way: If the United States
Service doesn't offer
the man suitable work, we pay the
benefits. If we see the USES has
been offering him jobs which he has
refused. We suspend the payments.
At present. District veterans re-
main an average of about six weeks
on the rolls of the Unemployment
Compensation Board, although some
have drawn their $40 checks almost
every week since the readjustment
checks started going out
in September.
Since September. S168,855 has been
paid to District veterans in read
lustment allowances. This comes
from the Treasury by way of the
Veterans Administration. The
money represents $500 checks to
veterans who certified they were
able to work, available for work, but
204 Claims in April.
During April, 204 new claims for
the Federal readjustment allowance
were filed by veterans. Last month.
according to District selective serv-
ice figures, 37O District men came
out of the armed forces and back to
Between the new claims and the
claims, the Unemploy-
ment Compensation Board issued 372
checks to veterans a week during
April That means more than that
of veterans received checks.
since some joined the ranks and
some left the ranks of the unem-
ployed during the month.
Reaojustment allowances run for
81 weeks for all veterans with more
than 10 months service. Once these
Federal benefits are exhausted, vet
Grams fall back on the Districts un-
compensation if they
worked in a covered" industry
before entering the service and
have earned enough to have bene-
fits coming.
Not All Collect.
Not all the men who have filed
claims have actually drawn read
justment allowance checks. They
apply for this benefit when they
register for work at the United
States Employment Service, and if
they get a job within a week, they
draw no unemployment check.
On the other hand, if they lose
the job, they are entitled to the
Federal benefits, and many of the
men now on the rolls are re
peaters, according to the compen-
sation board. Each week they must
certify anew that they are unem-
ployed. If they are referred to
suitable work. and refuse to take
it, they are disqualified from re-
ceiving benefits for from two to
five weeks.
In order to make sure the man
is actually available for work, the
USES reports to the Unemployment
Compensation Board whenever a
man is referred to work.
All Takes Time.
The USES said it was trying to
get the reports in every day, but
that sometimes it takes several days
to find out whether the man has
taken the job offered him or
whether the employer has refused
to hire him. The USES said it
sometimes takes five or six weeks
before the Civil Service Commits
sion reports on what happens to
veterans sent to Government agen-
cies for jobs.
A substantial group of the men
drawing checks are waiting for
Government jobs. If they actually
have a letter saying when they're
going to work. they are allowed to
keep on drawing the checks. How
ever, if they have no proof that
they have been accepted-even if
they've taken Government exami-
nations-they have to take other
work if it's offered them or 60 off
the unemployment pay roll, the
board explained.
The board picked these cases at
random as examples of men draw
ing the checks: An auto mechanic
drew checks for five weeks; a
plumbers helper drew IL checks;
a coach cleaner drew 13 checks; a
bowling alley pinsetter drew Is
checks.
Problem Case.
This was given as one of the
problem" cases: A veteran who
had been a building laborer before
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