Conlon v. Director of the Division of Employment Security

413 N.E.2d 727, 382 Mass. 19, 1980 Mass. LEXIS 1374
CourtMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
DecidedDecember 1, 1980
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 413 N.E.2d 727 (Conlon v. Director of the Division of Employment Security) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Conlon v. Director of the Division of Employment Security, 413 N.E.2d 727, 382 Mass. 19, 1980 Mass. LEXIS 1374 (Mass. 1980).

Opinion

Wilkins, J.

At issue here is the question of the extent to which personal domestic responsibilities are relevant in determining whether an individual is entitled to unemployment benefits. The board of review (board) denied unemployment benefits to the claimant (Conlon) because she restricted her availability for work to a daytime shift which was consistent with her fulfilment of responsibilities to her children.

A District Court judge reversed the board’s determination and ordered the payment of benefits. We agree that the board erred in its decision but conclude that the proceeding must be remanded to the Division of Employment Security [20]*20(division) for findings in light of principles we set forth in this opinion.

The board, adopting the decision of the review examiner, found that Conlon worked as a nurses’ aide in a nursing home from 1975 until April, 1979, when the employer terminated operations. Conlon sought and received unemployment benefits, but those benefits were terminated when Conlon indicated that she was available for work only on the 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. shift. At the hearing, Conlon explained that she had six children whose ages ranged from seven to seventeen and that her husband was a fireman who was required to work nights. She was not willing to leave the children without parental supervision at night, and, therefore, restricted her availability to the day shift.

The board affirmed the decision of the review examiner and ruled that to meet the availability requirements of G. L. c. 151A, § 24(6), “the person claiming benefits must be willing and able to work full time on any shift normally operated in the occupation for which she is suited by training and experience.” The board denied Conlon benefits, concluding that, by her unwillingness to work all shifts other than the day shift, she had eliminated a major portion of her employment opportunities and had failed to meet the availability requirements of § 24(6).

On Conlon’s appeal, the District Court judge reversed the board’s decision. He concluded that the board’s focus solely on the availability standard of § 24 (6) was improper because it failed to recognize that a person must be available only for employment that is “suitable employment” within the meaning of § 25 (c). He ruled, as a matter of law, that Conlon was entitled to benefits from the date those benefits were terminated until August 27, 1979, when she secured employment (incidentally, within hours acceptable to her). The director of the division appeals from that decision.

The question whether a person who refuses work at certain hours because of domestic responsibilities is entitled to unemployment compensation has not been answered in this State. It has been answered variously in other jurisdictions. [21]*21See Annot., 35 A.L.R.3d 1129, 1137-1145 (1971 & Supp. 1980), where cases are collected. The tendency in earlier opinions was to focus on the general requirement that a person must be “available” for work in order to be eligible for compensation. These opinions held that restricting one’s employability to certain times of day because of child care duties rendered the individual unavailable for work. The theory was that the individual “must be exposed unequivocally to the labor market,” Leclerc v. Administrator, 137 Conn. 438, 439 (1951), and willing to work during all hours “as are customary in the type of employment to which he is suited,” Swanson v. Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Co., 240 Minn. 449, 456 (1953). See, e.g., York v. Morgan, 16 Or. App. 76 (1973); Judson Mills v. South Carolina Unemployment Compensation Comm’n, 204 S.C. 37 (1944); Aladdin Indus. Inc. v. Commissioner, 219 Tenn. 71 (1966). Cf. Ford Motor Co. v. Unemployment Compensation Comm’n, 316 Mich. 468, 472 (1947), where the statute required the unemployed person to be available for appropriate work “full-time.”

More recent opinions have focused less exclusively on availability and have broadened the inquiry to include consideration of statutory language that requires the individual to be available only for “suitable” employment which he has no “good cause” to refuse. The issue with respect to domestic responsibilities has been whether domestic responsibilities could constitute “good cause.” Since the Massachusetts Employment Security Law has language of this type,1 the analysis in these cases is useful here.

[22]*22Some jurisdictions have adopted a narrow definition of good cause. The Supreme Court of Minnesota has limited good cause to reasons which are of a “temporary and emergency character” (emphasis in original), and to justifiable reasons pertaining to the particular job. Swanson v. Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Co., 240 Minn. 449, 457-458 (1953). Vermont has maintained a narrow view of the meaning of “good cause,” by reading into “good cause” in the applicable statute the qualifying words found in the separate statutory disqualification of a person who leaves his employment “without good cause attributable to [the employer].” In re Prouty, 131 Vt. 504 (1973), relying on Nurmi v. Vermont Employment Security Bd.., 124 Vt. 42, 47-48 (1963).

Numerous courts, certainly the majority that have dealt with the question in recent years, have concluded that the refusal to seek or accept work at certain times because of family responsibilities may constitute “good cause” to decline suitable employment and does not necessarily make the employee unavailable for work. See Arndt v. State, 583 P.2d 799, 802-803 (Alaska 1978); Sanchez v. Unemployment Ins. Appeals Bd., 20 Cal.3d 55, 69-70 (1977); Yordamlis v. Florida Indus. Comm’n, 158 So.2d 791 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1963); Tung-Sol Elec. Inc. v. Board of Review, 35 N.J. Super. 397, 401-402 (1955); In re Watson, 273 N.C. 629, 635 (1968); Huntley v. Department of Employment Security, R.I. , - (1979) (397 A.2d 902, 905-906 [R.I. 1979]). See also Trexler v. Unemployment Compensation Bd. of Review, 27 Pa. Commw. Ct. 180, 183-188 (1976), which has a statutory basis for the definition of “good cause” adopted by the court.

[23]*23Although “good cause” in § 25 (c) has not been interpreted in Massachusetts, the words “good cause” appear elsewhere in c. 151A and may, in those contexts, include personal reasons of the employee. Section 25 (e) provides, in part, that benefits are to be denied in certain circumstances if the employee “has left his work (1) voluntarily without good cause attributable to the employing unit.” G. L. c. 151A, § 25 (e), as appearing in St. 1975, c. 684, § 78. In this form, good cause must relate to the employer and thus personal reasons for leaving employment cannot constitute “good cause.” For a period from 1958 (see St. 1958, c. 677) to 1969 (see St. 1969, c. 614, § 2), § 25 (e) denied benefits to one who left work “voluntarily without good cause.” During this period “good cause” was not limited to “good cause attributable to the employing unit,” and certain personal reasons for quitting work could constitute good cause. See Raytheon Co. v. Director of the Div. of Employment Security, 346 Mass. 733, 735-736 (1964);

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Conlon v. DIRECTOR OF THE DIVISION OF EMPLOYMENT SEC.
413 N.E.2d 727 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1980)

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Bluebook (online)
413 N.E.2d 727, 382 Mass. 19, 1980 Mass. LEXIS 1374, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/conlon-v-director-of-the-division-of-employment-security-mass-1980.