LIMIT OF EARNINGS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18089, 16 May 1933, Page 4

LIMIT OF EARNINGS

SCALE FOE UNEMPLOYED BOARD’S POLICY EXPLAINED PAY FROM OUTSIDE SOURCES In amplification of the statement made to a deputation from the Auckland Unemployed Association by the Minister of Employment, the Hon. A. Hamilton, concerning the amount which a relief worker may earn from outside sources before his relief allocation will be reduced, the Minister set out the scale which has been adopted by the Unemployment Board. The Minister said it was the policy of the board to offer every encouragement to relief workers to seek private employment, and it did not desire that needed relief should be reduced in cases where workers had succeeded, within certain limits, in obtaining work from private sources. It had, in fact, been a ruling of the board that if men could obtain private employment and did not avail themselves of the opportunity they might be struck off the register altogether.

ODD CASUAL JOBS. It was explained by the Minister that where the worker obtained an odd casual job not recurring weekly, the earnings would be ignored in determining his measure of relief. In those cases, however, where the private employment obtained was of a more regular recurring nature, or where the wife and (or) other members of the worker’s family were in receipt of regular wages or .other income, the following scale, while not to be taken as an inflexible rule, would be used as a guide by all certifying officers in determining the measure of relief to bo given:—

(1) Where a worker or his wife earns a regular wage apart from his relief not exceeding 1 Os, or one day’s pay, whichever is the greatest, per week, no deduction will be made from his relief on that account.

(2) A deduction of one half-day, or ss, may be made from his relief when the wage from private employment ranges from 15s to 20s per week. (3) A reduction of one day’s pay, or 10s, may be made when the earnings from private employment range from 21s to 30s per week. (4) If the wage derived from private employment exceeds 31s per week, the measure of relief granted will bo determined by the certifying officer after consideration of all the relevant factors.

QUESTION OF FAMILY INCOME. The Minister added that the deputation had asked that a similar scale be set out, but that it should relate to Ihe family income other than that of 1 the worker and (or) his wife. Ho said that such a scale would involve too many difficulties, and the question of determining the measure of relief in cases in which the members of the family other than the father or mother contributed to the incomo of the homo must be left to the discretion of the certifying officer, who was supplied with all the relevant factors in each case, except that where the contribution to the family income from this source did not exceed 80s per week to deduction on that account need be made.

"Some difficulties have arisen,” continued the Minister, "in connection with instructions contained in a recent circular sent out by the board, in which it was stated that a worker not reporting for duty on the day work is allocated to him must not bo given the opportunity of making up the time lost, excepting where liis absence was due to sickness.

MAKING UP LOST TIME. "That portion of the circular has now boon cancelled, and the position is that it will bo taken as a rulo of the board that if a worker is absent from relief work on account of having obtained private employment on the day that ho should have reported, and he notifies the employing authorities that he has obtained such private employment, ho may, if the circumstances permit, bo given an opportunity ofmaking up the time later during the samo week.

“Similarly, if a worker knows lie can obtain a clay's work at tho end of the week on days for which relief work has been apportioned to him, he may, if arrangements can be made with employing authorities, havo his days of relief set earlier in tho week. Certifying officers are being asked to uso every endeavor to make this possible, as failure would mean discouragement to tho worker who had obtained privato employment but lost corresponding time on relief work."