Broadway & Fourth Avenue Realty Co. v. Allen

365 S.W.2d 302, 1962 Ky. LEXIS 285
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976)
DecidedMarch 23, 1962
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 365 S.W.2d 302 (Broadway & Fourth Avenue Realty Co. v. Allen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976) primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Broadway & Fourth Avenue Realty Co. v. Allen, 365 S.W.2d 302, 1962 Ky. LEXIS 285 (Ky. 1962).

Opinion

MONTGOMERY, Judge.

This case was considered with Brown Hotel Company v. Edwards, Ky., 365 S.W.2d 299, and other cases (decided this day). Involved in each appeal is the question whether compensation benefits paid to a claimant shall be charged to the employer’s reserve account or to the Commission’s pooled account. The circuit court affirmed the Commission’s order approving the referee’s award of benefits.

Leona Allen had been employed by the Broadway & Fourth Avenue Realty Company since September 1948 as a maid at the Brown Building. The last day she worked was March 19, 1954.

Leona broke her arm on March 20, 1954. Her injury was not connected with the employment; hence, appellant was not liable for workmen’s compensation benefits. Leona reported her injury to her immediate superior and was advised that because of her inability to work she would have to be replaced but that her job would be held ninety days for her. Because Leona was unheard from at the end of that period, her employment was terminated on June 30, 1954.

Leona filed a claim on October 5, 1954, stating that severance from her employment was because of “lack of work.” She signed another Commission form on November 4, 1954, and gave as the reason for her separation, “Voluntarily quit.” Both statements were made under penalty for false statement. See KRS 341.370(3) for false statement disqualification. Appellant’s response was that she voluntarily quit.

On February 18, 1955, Leona testified that she had not worked since March 19, 1954, and had not been able to work until October 1954. She said that she called in to her employer in July and August and was told that there was no place for her. At that time, according to her, her arm was still in a sling. In September 1954, she refused appellant’s offer of employment *304 because she would have had to work under a different supervisor. She made no attempt to obtain other employment.

Appellant urges that the Commission acted without authority or in excess of its authority and not in conformity with the pertinent statutes. The trial court upheld the award made by the Commission, which had refused to relieve appellant’s reserve account from the benefit? paid. The Commission held that KRS 341.370 prescribing the disqualifications to receive benefits should be construed narrowly and that the facts did not clearly and convincingly show that the claimant voluntarily quit without good cause or was discharged for misconduct.

In holding that KRS 341.370 should be construed narrowly against the employer, the Commission was in error. KRS 341.370 stands on a par with KRS 341.350 and KRS 341.530(3). Originally it was provided that the “Act shall be liberally construed to accomplish the purposes thereof.” Carroll’s Kentucky Statutes, Section 4748g-21. This statute was repealed in 1940. Kentucky Acts 1940, Chapter 191. In Barnes v. Indian Refining Company, 280 Ky. 811, 134 S.W.2d 620, it was held, “As a taxing statute, the limitations of the Act are to be strictly interpreted.” In Elkhorn & Jellico Coal Company v. Kentucky Unemployment Compensation Commission, 310 Ky. 674, 221 S.W.2d 640, it was held that “the employer’s reserve account from which these benefits are to be paid is financed by taxes levied on the employer, and they should only be disbursed when clearly required by the terms of the taxing statute.”

It would seem from the action of the Commission in this and related cases that these decisions have been ignored. The General Assembly in 1958, c. 4 provided that the eligibility requirements of KRS 341.350 and the conditions of benefit disqualifications of KRS 341.370 “shall be strictly construed.” This was an embodiment of the existing case law. Accordingly, both statutes should have been construed strictly as taxing statutes, and the Commission was wrong in its manner of construction. Inasmuch as KRS 341.530(3) concerns the charges made against the employer’s reserve account, it, as a taxing statute, also should be construed strictly.

The burden was on Leona to establish her claim by proving eligibility under KRS 341.350. Brown Hotel Company v. Edwards, Ky., 365 S.W.2d 299 (decided this day). Further, it was a necessary part of establishing her claim to carry the burden of proving that she did not quit voluntarily without good cause attributable to her employment under KRS 341.530(3). Fannon v. Federal Cartridge Corporation, 219 Minn. 306, 18 N.W.2d 249; John Morrell & Company v. Unemployment Compensation Commission, 69 S.Dak. 618, 13 N.W.2d 498; Henderson v. Department of Industrial Relations, 252 Ala. 239, 40 So.2d 629; Wolpers v. Unemployment Compensation Commission, 353 Mo. 1067, 186 S.W.2d 440; Seroskie v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 169 Pa.Super. 470, 82 A.2d 558.

The Commission concluded that appellant’s reserve account was entitled to no relief. Apparently the referee, Commission, and trial court ignored KRS 341.530 concerning employer reserve accounts. Subsection (1) provides for the keeping of a separate reserve account for each employer. Subsection (2) provides that the benefits paid each eligible worker shall be charged to the employer’s reserve account excepting the benefits paid under Subsection (3), the pertinent part of which provides:

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

Related

Thompson v. Kentucky Unemployment Insurance Commission
85 S.W.3d 621 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 2002)
Burch v. Taylor Drug Store, Inc.
965 S.W.2d 830 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1998)
Barren River Mental Health-Mental Retardation Board, Inc. v. Bailey
783 S.W.2d 886 (Kentucky Supreme Court, 1990)
Kentucky Unemployment Insurance Commission v. Day
451 S.W.2d 656 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1970)
Cantrell v. Kentucky Unemployment Insurance Commission
450 S.W.2d 235 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976), 1970)
Jenkins v. Review Board of the Indiana Employment Security Division
211 N.E.2d 42 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1965)
Brown Hotel Company v. White
365 S.W.2d 306 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976), 1962)
Brown Hotel Co. v. Napier
365 S.W.2d 311 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1962)
Broadway & Fourth Avenue Realty Co. v. Crabtree
365 S.W.2d 313 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1962)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
365 S.W.2d 302, 1962 Ky. LEXIS 285, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/broadway-fourth-avenue-realty-co-v-allen-kyctapphigh-1962.