Bingham v. American Screw Products Co.

225 N.W.2d 199, 57 Mich. App. 21, 1974 Mich. App. LEXIS 657
CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 27, 1974
DocketDocket No. 18667
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 225 N.W.2d 199 (Bingham v. American Screw Products Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bingham v. American Screw Products Co., 225 N.W.2d 199, 57 Mich. App. 21, 1974 Mich. App. LEXIS 657 (Mich. Ct. App. 1974).

Opinions

Van Valkenburg, J.

Plaintiff was employed by defendant American Screw Products Company from February 17, 1969 to November 17, 1969, at which date he voluntarily and without good cause attributable to his employer quit his job and returned to his home in Pineville, Kentucky. The reason plaintiff gave for leaving his job and returning to Kentucky was that he had been unable to find a suitable home for his family in the Detroit area at a price he could afford despite attempts to find adequate housing during his stay in Michigan.

In early December 1969 plaintiff filed a claim for unemployment compensation with defendant Michigan Employment Security Commission. Defendant commission notified defendant employer of the claim and sought certain financial data. De[24]*24fendant employer indicated that while November 17, 1969 was the last day worked by plaintiff, plaintiff was still carried on their records and that the claims form was the only indication they had had that plaintiff did not intend to return. On February 20, 1970, the commission determined that plaintiff claimant was disqualified from receiving benefits from the week ending November 22, 1969 until he had completed the six-week requalification requirements, which he had completed on January 10, 1970 and that claimant was then entitled to benefits for a total of twenty weeks.

On March 9, 1970 defendant employer petitioned for a redetermination asserting that plaintiff had been offered his old job and that he had failed to report for said job. On April 3, 1970 the commission determined that the plaintiff had good cause for not reporting for the offered work and thus was not disqualified under MCLA 421.29(l)(d); MSA 17.531(l)(d). Defendant company appealed the April 3 redetermination to the referee, who affirmed the commission’s determination that plaintiff was . not disqualified by his refusal to accept the offered work. On appeal to the appeal board, the referee was affirmed by a vote of two to one. Defendant company then appealed to the circuit court, which held that plaintiff was disqualified from benefits by failing to accept suitable employment when offered. The Michigan Employment Security Commission appeals by leave granted.

I

We are here concerned only with the question of whether plaintiff was disqualified by reason that he refused to accept defendant employer’s offer of [25]*25his old job. The question whether plaintiff had requalified by seeking employment in Kentucky was decided by the February 20, 1970 determination. Since defendant company neither appealed nor sought a redetermination on that question within the fifteen-day period specified by MCLA 421.32a; MSA 17.534(1), the question was not properly before the circuit court. See Roman Cleanser Co v Murphy, 386 Mich 698; 194 NW2d 704 (1972).

Defendant company argues and the circuit court held that plaintiff was disqualified from benefits under MCLA 421.29(l)(d); MSA 17.531(l)(d), which provides:

"An individual shall be disqualified for benefits in all cases in which he:
"(d) Being unemployed has failed without good cause to report to his former employer or employing unit within a reasonable time after notice from said employer or employing unit for an interview concerning available suitable work with said former employer * * * »

The commission, on the other hand, argues that the company’s offer of the old job was not "suitable work”. The commission relies upon the definition of the term "suitable work” found in MCLA 421.29(6); MSA 17.531(6), which provides:

"In determining whether or not any work is suitable for an individual, the commission shall consider the degree of risk involved to his health, safety and morals, his physical fitness and prior training, his experience and prior earnings, his length of unemployment and prospects for securing local work in his customary occupation, and the distance of the available work from his residence.”

The commission argues that the term "residence” [26]*26as used therein means the claimant’s residence at the time the work was offered; and therefore, plaintiff herein, who had taken up residence in Kentucky, had good cause to refuse to take the Michigan job offer because of the distance of the available work from his residence.

In response to this argument defendant company argues that the term residence means the place the claimant resided at at the time of bis termination of his prior employment rather than at the time of the job offer.

II

The question raised in this appeal appears to be one of first impression. Neither Merren v Employment Security Commission, 3 Mich App 383; 142 NW2d 493 (1966); affirmed by an equally divided Court, 380 Mich 240; 156 NW2d 524 (1968), nor Roman Cleanser Co v Murphy, 29 Mich App 155; 185 NW2d 87 (1970), rev’d, 386 Mich 698; 194 NW2d 704 (1972), are dispositive of the issue raised herein. In both those cases the claimant left his Michigan employment to accept permanent full-time employment with another employer and thus the decision in both cases was based upon the ability of the Michigan employer to secure contribution from the out-of-state employer. Indeed, this Court in Roman Cleanser specifically indicated that it did not decide whether the offer of employment constituted "suitable employment” or whether the failure to accept such employment disqualified the claimant. The Supreme Court in Roman Cleanser likewise did not decide the merits of this question, but rather reversed on the basis that the issue was not properly raised since neither a timely redetermination had been petitioned nor had there been good cause shown why a [27]*27timely redetermination had not been taken. Thus the questions decided in the initial determination were final and unappealable and the subsequent redetermination was appealable only as to those issues not made final by the initial determination.

Ill

The question of whether plaintiff was disqualified under § 29(l)(d) of the Employment Security Act1 is dependent upon whether he had "good cause” to refuse the offer of his old Michigan job. The question of "good cause” in turn is dependent upon whether the job offered was "suitable work” within the meaning of the Employment Security Act.

In defining "suitable work” in § 29(6), as quoted above, the Legislature set forth a number of factors which the commission is to consider in determining whether any work is suitable for an individual. The thrust of the legislative mandate would appear to be that the question of the suitability of the work must be determined by a balancing of these factors as they apply to the individual claimant. Thus a given job might well be deemed to be suitable work for one individual and yet unsuitable to another. The Legislature would seem to be saying that an individual should not be disqualified from benefits if he refuses to take a job which would require the claimant to incur conditions of employment which are unreasonable in light of his prior employment conditions.

This is not to say that the Legislature has mandated the job offered must be equal in every respect to the prior conditions under which the claimant worked, nor that the pay is the same or [28]*28better, nor that the work will be as conveniently situated to claimant’s place of abode.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Jones-Jennings v. Hutzel Hospital
565 N.W.2d 680 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1997)
Dueweke v. Morang Drive Greenhouses, Inc.
282 N.W.2d 823 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1979)
Bingham v. American Screw Products Co.
248 N.W.2d 537 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1976)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
225 N.W.2d 199, 57 Mich. App. 21, 1974 Mich. App. LEXIS 657, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bingham-v-american-screw-products-co-michctapp-1974.