Carl Colteryahn Dairy, Inc. v. Commonwealth

407 A.2d 71, 46 Pa. Commw. 319, 1979 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 2046
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 3, 1979
DocketAppeals, Nos. 1390, 1391, 1392, 1393, 1394 and 1395 C.D. 1977
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 407 A.2d 71 (Carl Colteryahn Dairy, Inc. v. Commonwealth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Carl Colteryahn Dairy, Inc. v. Commonwealth, 407 A.2d 71, 46 Pa. Commw. 319, 1979 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 2046 (Pa. Ct. App. 1979).

Opinion

Opinion by

Judge Craig,

The Unemployment Compensation Board of Review (Board), reversing a referee’s decision, determined that claimants were eligible for benefits under the provisions of Section 402(a) of the Pennsylvania Unemployment Compensation Law,1 43 P.S. §802(a), on the ground that, after being laid off, their failure to accept work offered to them by a prospective new employer was based on good cause.

Carl Colteryahn Dairy, Inc., claimants’ original employer, appeals from the Board’s decision.

Claimants were last employed by Colteryahn as driver-salesmen at a final weekly salary of approximately $275. On September 22, 1976, that employer informed claimants that because of economic pressures, their services would be terminated September 30, 1976. On that day, employer told claimants that Schneider Dairy was interested in hiring claimants in their same capacity at the same salary, beginning October 1, 1976.

The Board’s finding that, as a prerequisite to employment with Schneider Dairy, claimants were required to take a cut in seniority and vacation time by one-half, is not wholly accurate because claimants’ own testimony indicates that their union contract provided for the half-cut in seniority. However, Schneider Dairy’s offer of employment did propose to cut claimants’ vacation entitlement for the first year of employment, allegedly not in accordance with their union contract.

The referee and Board also found that, as a prerequisite to employment, Schneider Dairy required [322]*322each claimant to sign a statement to the effect that he would not initiate any grievance against Schneider Dairy under the applicable union agreement. The record does not support this finding. The record is somewhat confusing, and our review is hampered because a copy of the waiver agreement was not submitted in evidence, but claimants’ testimony supports a finding that the waiver of the grievance proceeding was only with respect to the cut in vacation time.2

The referee held that claimants’ failure to accept employment with Schneider Dairy indicated a lack of good faith, and therefore the claimants were ineligible to receive unemployment compensation benefits for failure to accept suitable work as required by Section 402(a) of the Law.

The Board concluded, however, that Schneider Dairy’s precondition to employment — the abrogation of claimants’ right to file a grievance — amounted to good cause for refusing employment under Section 402(a) of the Law.

No question as to the suitability of the proffered employment with Schneider Dairy otherwise has been [323]*323raised; Schneider offered similar positions at the same pay rates.

In an unemployment compensation case, review by the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania is limited to questions of law and a determination of whether findings of fact are supported by substantial evidence. Gallagher v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 36 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 599, 388 A.2d 785 (1978).

The issue before us is whether the Board erred as a matter of law in finding that the claimants had “good cause” for refusing to accept the offer of employment under the conditions proposed. "We reverse the Board’s decision.

“Good cause” and “suitable work” represent distinct concepts and must be considered separately. Barclay White Co. v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 356 Pa. 43, 50 A.2d 336 (1947), cert. denied, 332 U.S. 761.

This Court has construed the term “good cause” to require a “substantial and reasonable ground for refusing the offered work.” Trella v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 10 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 305, 307, 309 A.2d 742, 743 (1973). In reaching a “good cause” determination, we must bear in mind that “ [presumably, an unemployed worker in a covered employment is entitled to benefits, and loses them only when he falls under the condemnation of a disqualifying provision of the act, fairly, liberally and broadly interpreted.” Sturdevant Unemployment Compensation Case, 158 Pa. Superior Ct. 548, 560, 45 A.2d 898, 904 (1946).

In this case, the prospective employer’s proposal created the issue under the “good cause” exception to Section 402(a). Schneider’s only proffered alternative to the abrogation of the claimants’ right to utilize the union’s grievance procedure was employ[324]*324ment as “new men” without any of their accrued union standing. Either alternative seemingly would result in claimants giving up all or a portion of their union entitlement as a precondition to accepting the proffered employment.

Employer relies on Barclay White Co., supra, for the proposition that courts will not consider practice and procedures of collective bargaining in the determination of an employee’s eligibility for unemployment compensation. In that case, the court denied claimant compensation under the provisions of Section 402(a) where claimant refused an offer of “suitable ’ ’ employment on the ground that his union would expel him because the offered employment was with a nonunion plant.

In reaching that determination, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court stressed the dominant intent of the Law, as stated in Article I, Section 3, 43 P.S. §752, to provide “for the benefit of persons unemployed through no fault of their own.” (Emphasis added.) The court held that where an employee voluntarily enters into membership in his union and is unemployed because he refuses to accept a referral at wages less than those established by the union, rather than be fined, suspended or expelled from membership by the union, he is not involuntarily unemployed but rather out of work through his own choosing. Barclay White Co., supra, 356 Pa. at 50, 50 A.2d at 341.

This case is distinguishable from Barclay White Co. in that the pre-condition to employment there affected the employee’s status with his union, while here the pre-condition interferes with the employee’s status as to the employer.

Hence, D’Amato v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 196 Pa. Superior Ct. 76, 173 A.2d 680 (1961) is controlling. In D’Amato, the court held that claimant’s failure to accept reemployment at a [325]*325wage below the union pay scale — an offer in violation of the collective bargaining agreement — did not constitute “good cause” under the statute; claimant’s failure to accept the work rendered him ineligible under Section 402(a).

Noting that the law was not designed to implement or impede collective bargaining between unions and employers, nor was it within the jurisdiction of the compensation authorities to render decisions governing violations of collective bargaining agreements, the court held :

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407 A.2d 71, 46 Pa. Commw. 319, 1979 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 2046, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carl-colteryahn-dairy-inc-v-commonwealth-pacommwct-1979.