United States Senator DAVID I. WALSH, Washington, D. C. ATHOL, MASS., June 6, 1939. DEAR SENATOR: I have been asked by Clerk Ernest H. Steinberg, of this office, to ask your help in getting a hearing on his hernia case that is now before the United States Employees' Compensation Commission. His file number is 573483. This case covers an accident incurred by Mr. Steinberg in 1934, but through some error in this office, which was prior to my taking it over, it was not properly reported. I have forwarded, for Mr. Steinberg, to the Commission affidavits from the former postmaster, the former superintendent of mails, and the present superintendent of mails, who was then a clerk on duty with Mr. Steinberg, certifying that they remember the occasion of the accident and that it was incurred in line of duty. On or about April 1 of this year Mr. Steinberg was very seriously stricken by a protrusion caused by this hernia and, after 8 days in bed, it was relieved sufficiently for him to come back on duty. He positively must be operated upon very soon or he will be subject to a strangulation which the designated physician says is very apt to prove serious, and I sincerely hope that some favorable action can be taken on his behalf as he is a very faithful, conscientious clerk and feels that he has been getting rather a raw deal by the Commission in not allowing him treatment for an injury incurred for the Department. Most of the parcel-post shipments from this office are small steel tools, and the weight of the sacks will run ofttimes from 20 to 90 pounds, and it is necessary for the clerk to handle anywhere from 75 to 100 of these sacks in dispatching the last two trains. Mr. Steinberg's injury was incurred in reaching into a shipping basket of tools from the Uniton Twis Drill Co. in order to facilitate their shipping on a train which was leaving shortly afterward. I sincerely hope that you can do something for this man as in my sincere opinion it is a very worthy case. Yours very truly, RICHARD MULLEN, Postmaster. DOLLIE C. PICHETTE MARCH 24, 1941.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House and ordered to be printed Mr. CHENOWETH, from the Committee on Claims, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany S. 717] The Committee on Claims, to whom was referred the bill (S. 717), for the relief of Dollie C. Pichette, having considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the bill do pass. The purpose of the proposed legislation is to authorize and direct the United States Employees' Compensation Commission to pay, out of any funds heretofore or hereafter appropriated, for the payment of awards, under the provisions of the Employees' Compensation Act, to Dollie C. Pichette, of Grand Ronde, Oreg., the sum of $30 per month from the date of enactment of this act until her death, as compensation for the death of her husband, John B. Pichette, who was killed on March 21, 1937, while working in a sand pit in connection with an Indian Emergency Conservation Work project. The facts are fully set forth in Senate Report No. 15, Seventyseventh Congress, first session, which is appended hereto and made a part of this report. Your committee concur in the recommendation of the Senate. [S. Rept. No. 15, 77th Cong., 1st sess.] The Committee on Claims, to whom was referred the bill (S. 717) for the relief of Dollie C. Pichette, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with the recommendation that the bill do pass without amendment. An identical bill passed the Senate in the Seventy-sixth Congress. The facts are fully set forth in Senate Report No. 1282, Seventy-sixth Congress third session, which is appended hereto and made a part of this report. [S. Rept. No. 1282, 76th Cong., 3d sess.] The Committee on Claims, to whom was referred the bill (S. 3052) for the relief of Dollie C. Pichette, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with the recommenation that the bill do pass without amendment. This bill authorizes and directs the United States Employees' Compensation Commission to pay to Dollie C. Pichette of Grand Ronde, Oreg., the sum of $30 a month from the date of enactment of the bill until her death, as compensation for the death of her husband, John B. Pichette, who was killed on March 21, 1937, whole working in a sand pit in connection with Indian emergency conservation work project No. 87 at the Warm Springs Indian Agency, Warm Springs, Oreg. The chairman of the United States Employees' Compensation Commission in report of February 24, 1940, on this bill states the Commission has no objection to enactment of a bill affording dependents of claimant's husband the benefits provided for emergency relief workers under the act of February 15, 1934 (48 Stat. 351), as amended and extended. March 21, 1937, claimant, while engaged in hauling sand in connection with an emergency conservation project, sustained injuries resulting in his death on the same day. For several months previously he had been employed on emergency conservation work. Three days before his death he stopped that work and volunteered at the request of his superiors, also Government employees, to do certain other work without compensation, expecting to be employed again at pay within a few days by the Government. At the time of his death he was working on an approved Government project with the equipment of the Federal Government and was under the supervision of Government employees. This claimant's husband gratuitously contributed his services to the project on which he was employed at the time of injury and was not working under a contract of employment. The Employees' Compensation Commission advises he was not a civil employee of the United States at the time of his injury and death. His dependents, therefore, are not now eligible for compensation under the employee-compensation laws. Claimant is 56 years old and has 6 children living. Two of her children, sons 17 and 19, are living with her. She is in failing health and has no property of any kind, and has no means of support other than the help her sons provide. The following communications are appended hereto and made a part of this report. EMPLOYEES' COMPENSATION COMMISSION, CHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE ON CLAIMS, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: Reference is made to your request for the Commission's report upon the bill (S. 3052) for the relief of Dollie C. Pichette. The bill provides: "That the United States Employees' Compensation Commission is authorized and directed to pay, out of any funds heretofore or hereafter appropriated for the payment of awards under the provisions of the Act entitled 'An Act to provide compensation for employees of the United States suffering injuries while in the performance of their duties, and for other purposes,' approved September 7, 1916, as amended, to Dollie C. Pichette, of Grand Ronde, Oregon, the sum of $30 per month from the date of enactment of this Act until her death, as compensation for the death of her husband, John B. Pichette, who was killed on March 21, 1937, while working in a sand pit in connection with Indian Emergency Conservation Work project numbered 87 at the Warm Springs Indian Agency, Warm Springs, Oregon." It appears from the file in this case that John B. Pichette on March 21, 1937, while engaged in hauling sand from a pit in connection with an emergency conservation work project, sustained injury resulting in his death on the same day: that he was working on an approved Government project with the equipment of the Federal Government and is stated to have been under the supervision of Government employees; that he was without pay, contributing his labor to that project; that he had been employed on emergency conservation work for several months prior to his death and 3 days earlier had quit that work with the expectation of again being employed within a few days by the Federal Government. The file in this case contains a letter dated Warm Springs, Oreg., April 1, 1937, from J. W. Elliott, superintendent, Warm Springs Agency, Office of Indian Affairs, United States Department of the Interior, in which Mr. Elliott inquired whether, in view of the circumstances of Mr. Pichette's fatal injury as described above, his dependents are entitled to compensation. Since it appeared from the file in this case that the deceased had gratuitously contributed his services to the project on which he was employed at the time of injury, and was not performing service under a contract of employment, the Commission advised Mr. Elliott that the deceased was not a civil employee of the United States at the time of his injury. The bill (S. 3052) without any qualification would authorize and direct this Commission to pay to Mrs. Pichette the sum of $30 per month during her lifetime, upon a legislative determination of her right thereto, and would not impose any duty upon the Commission in connection with this case other than the payment of the monthly compensation. In view of the peculiar circumstances of this case, namely, that Mr. Pichette at the time of his fatal injury was contributing his services to the United States, without remuneration, the Commission would have no objection to the enactment of a measure designed to afford his dependents the benefits provided in the cases of emergency relief workers under the act of February 15, 1934 (48 Stat. 351), as amended, and subsequently extended. Very truly yours, Hon. C. L. McNARY, (Mrs.) JEWELL W. SwoFFORD, Chairman. WARM SPRINGS, OREG., July 15, 1938. United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: I am writing you in regard to the death of my husband which occurred on the Warm Springs Reservation in the month of March 21, 1937, under circumstances which I believe would justify the Government in giving me some aid. At the time of his death he was working on an I. C. C. W. project on the Warm Springs Reservation and had been so employed for more than 4 months previous to his death, and due to his understanding of and capability in accomplishing the work assigned he was appointed overseer of several of the different kinds of work embraced in the project. His work was always very satisfactory to his employers, and at the time of his death, his employers had a certain piece of work to be done and requested that all the men who were willing to donate a couple of days' work to help them out on it then, after those 2 days were done they would be paid for the rest of the time put in on this project. His employers sent him out to work on his project as they believed that he was the most capable man they had to oversee the work to be done, and while engaged in the work and while loading their truck a slide occurred and tons of gravel and rock came down upon them and crushed him to death instantly. My husband was one-fourth Indian and French descent; was born near Oakland, Oreg., and at the time of his death was 55 years old. I am three-eighths Indian and French descent and am going on 56 years old, and am enrolled on the Grande Ronde Indian Reservation. We have six children living; four of them are married and I have two sons living with me, aged, respectively, 17 and 19 years, and these two sons afford me my only support. At the age of 56 years I am left without a home that I could call my own, and in failing health and no property of any kind and no other means of support than what we can earn. The work which my husband was doing at the time of his death was not in line with his employment but was work that he had volunteered to do for an improvement on the reservation, and which work inured to the benefit of the Indians on the reservation. The death of my husband has left me at a time in life when I am unable to earn my own living, and it is common knowledge that an enduring support cannot be expected or depended upon from relatives, even though they might be able to furnish support, but in my case they are not able to do so. I have been informed that the Government has heretofore in cases of this kind, by an act, afforded relief, and I believe that I am entitled to such relief; and that, should it be required, I can furnish substantiation of the facts which I have related. Trusting that you may see the way clear for introducing a bill at the next session of Congress for my relief, I am, Sincerely yours, о MRS. DOLLIE PICHETTE. |