CALIFORNIA LABOR-FEDERAL SECURITY APPROPRIATION BILL, 1942 MONDAY, JUNE 9, 1941 UNITED STATES SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, Washington, D. C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, in the committee room at 10:30 a. m., Hon. Pat McCarran presiding. Present: Senators McCarran and Bankhead. Senator MCCARRAN. The committee will please be in order. LABOR DEPARTMENT LETTER FROM LABOR DEPARTMENT REQUESTING CERTAIN AMENDMENTS FOR WAGE AND HOUR DIVISION Senator MCCARRAN. The letter of the Labor Department relative to the Wage and Hour Division will go into the record at this point. (The letter referred to is as follows:) The Honorable PAT MCCARRAN, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR SENATOR MCCARRAN: With this I am sending you a memorandum of suggested additional changes to the Labor-Federal Security appropriation bill for the fiscal year 1942 as reported to the House. The suggested changes seem to me to be absolutely essential if the Department is to fulfill in this emergency its obligations to the wage earners of the United States. This memorandum supplements that of June 4 outlining necessary amendments to the appropriation for the Division of Labor Standards of this Department as reported to the House. In addition we have made representations to members of the House Appropriations Committee with respect to its transfer to the Solicitor's Office of the field attorneys of the Wage and Hour Division. Copies of this correspondence as well as of a memorandum to me from Mr. Walling, administrator of the Public Contracts Division, are attached. I should very much appreciate your granting representatives of this Department opportunity to be heard by the Senate Appropriations Committee on our proposed changes. Very truly yours, FRANCES PERKINS. ADDITIONAL AMENDMENTS PROPOSED TO H. R. 4926 PERTAINING TO THE APPROPRIATION FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR (Suggested amendments pertaining to the appropriation of the Division of Labor Sandards submitted June 4, 1941) WAGE AND HOUR DIVISION Salaries: Page 12, line 2, after "Salaries:" delete "for all" and insert "Administrator, Deputy Administrator and other,". (This is merely to clarify language.) M226223 1 Page 12, line 6, delete $4,697,700" and insert "$5,046,800." The second of these two changes represents restoration of a cut made by the House committee in the estimated appropriations for salaries for inspectors in the Wage and Hour Division. As indicated in the committee's report, pages 13 and 14, these cuts were made as a result of the determination by the committee of a policy which limits the making of inspections on the basis of complaints received and thereby eliminates routine inspections. To assure fair and uniform compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act, inspection of every one of the more than 300,000 establishments in which workers subject to the act are employed is essential. To provide for this routine inspection, additional inspectors in the field are necessary. If the committee restores this cut to provide for additional field inspectors, an increase in departmental personnel will be required. Accordingly, the following change is suggested: Page 12, line 7, delete "$1,000,000" and insert "$1,035,000." In support of routine inspections General Fleming has stated: "A few statistics will demonstrate forcibly the necessity of administering the Fair Labor Standards Act on a routine inspection basis. Out of 12,621 complaint cases reviewed in Washington during the first 9 months of the fiscal year 1941, 6,324, or roughly one-half, involved violations serious enough to warrant the payment of restitution to employees. Out of 19,635 cases reviewed in Washington during this same period as a result of routine inspection, 5,359 constituted violations serious enough to warrant the payment of restitution to employees. During this same 9-month period, out of 1,297 cases requiring litigation resulted from complaints received by the Division. Slightlymore than one-half, or 651, of the 1,297 litigation cases grew out of routine inspections." OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY In the event the Senate Committee on Appropriations approves the proposed amendments restoring the cuts made by the House Committee, corresponding restorations should be made in contingent expenses and traveling expenses as follows: Contingent expenses: Page 3, line 9, delete "$215,500" and insert "$219,000." Traveling expenses: Page 3, line 16, delete "$1,538,000" and insert "$1,749,500." GENERAL PROVISIONS Page 82, line 3, after "District of Columbia," delete period and insert "or the Conciliation Service of the Department of Labor." The application of section 702 to the Conciliation Service would greatly handicap the Service in making appointments during the fiscal year 1942. HOUSE AMENDMENTS Page 2, line 18, change the word "one" to "two"; line 20, change the word "three" to "four." This amendment was adopted on the floor of the house at the suggestion of the chairman of the subcommittee. (See Congressional Record, p. 4817, colThis simply makes effective the Budget recommendation for the purchase of one additional automobile for the use of the Assistant Secretary of Labor. It is hoped that the Senate committee will retain this amendment. Hon. EDWARD T. TAYLOR, Chairman, Committee on Appropriations, JUNE 3, 1941. House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: I am writing to you with respect to two phases of H. R. 4926, a bill making appropriations for the Department of Labor, the Federal Security Agency, and related independent agencies, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1942, and for other purposes. The bill as reported by the Committee on Appropriations on June 2, 1941, reduces by $349,110 the Budget estimates for the Wage and Hour Division. The bill also transfers from the Wage and Hour Division to the Office of the Solicitor $360,000, representing salaries of the legal personnel and their clerical assistants in the field offices of the Wage and Hour Division. |