Dicerbo v. Nordberg

8 Mass. L. Rptr. 160
CourtMassachusetts Superior Court
DecidedJanuary 15, 1998
DocketNo. 935947B
StatusPublished

This text of 8 Mass. L. Rptr. 160 (Dicerbo v. Nordberg) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Superior Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dicerbo v. Nordberg, 8 Mass. L. Rptr. 160 (Mass. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

Cratsley, J.

INTRODUCTION

Part I. Background

On July 24, 1997 this Court heard this matter on stipulated facts and took it under advisement following a jury waived trial. The plaintiffs, Ellen Dicerbo et al., make four claims against the defendant Nils Nordberg, both individually and as the Commissioner of the Department of Employment Training (DET).1 First, plaintiffs claim that DET’s consistency policy that examiners are bound by DET’s subregulatory legal interpretations violates state and federal law and constitutions. Second, plaintiffs state that DETs failure to acknowledge Board of Review and District Court decisions as binding results in irrationally inconsistent outcomes for similarly situated litigants and, therefore, is unlawful. Third, plaintiffs allege that because DET requires that review examiners follow agency subregulations resulting in the agency failing to follow differing legal interpretations of the Board of Review and District Courts, the DET violates the “when due” requirement of federal unemployment law. And fourth, plaintiffs argue that, as a matter of law, DET’s denial of benefits to TFSO2 claimants is erroneous under the Bolta decision of the Supreme Judicial Court and the White decision of the Appeals Court. As a result of this fourth claim, plaintiffs’ argue that DET should be ordered to award appropriate unemployment benefits to those TFSO claimants who were denied them.

The defendant denies the legal validity of all plaintiffs’ claims.

For the reasons stated herein, the plaintiffs’ claims are accepted in part and rejected in part.

Part II. Summary of the Stipulated Facts (see "Stipulation of Agreed-Upon Facts”)

When an individual is separated from employment and files a claim for unemployment benefits, the DET requests information from the employer concerning the circumstances of the separation. G.L.c. 151A, §§38, 39. If the employer’s response raises a question concerning the claimant’s eligibility for benefits, a Service Representative of the DET interviews both the claimant and a representative of the employer, and then issues a written determination as to the claimant’s eligibility. G.L.c. 151A, §39(a). Stipulated Facts ¶1.

[161]*161A party who flies a timely appeal of an adverse determination by DET is entitled to an adjudicatory hearing before the Deputy Director of DET or the Deputy Director’s designee, called a Review Examiner (“Examiner”). See G.L.c. 151A, §39(b) and c. 30A, and the hearing regulations which apply to DET, 801 C.M.R. 1.02 and.03 (Standard Rules of Adjudicatory Procedure Informal/Fair Hearings). Stipulated Facts ¶2.

Any party aggrieved by the decision of the Deputy Director or his designee may appeal to the Board of Review, G.L. 151A, §§40, 41, a three-member panel within the DET which reviews the hearing decisions, but is independent of DET’s control. The Board has discretion within the parameters of G.L.c. 151A, §41 to accept or deny an appeal. The Deputy Director or any party aggrieved by a decision of the Board of Review (including instances in which the Board has denied the application for further review) may appeal to District Court. G.L.c. 151A, §42. Any party aggrieved by a decision of a District Court in an unemployment benefits case may appeal to the Appeals Court. G.L.c. 151A, §42. Stipulated Facts 13.

Since November 1992 the Determinations Department and the Hearings Department, whose Review Examiners conduct adjudicatory hearings on appeals from determinations of Service Representatives, have been consolidated under the direction of the Director of Determinations and Hearings. Stipulated Facts 22.

Deputy Director Nordberg’s consistency policy is that legal interpretations should be made within and between the Hearings and Determinations Departments on consistent bases if cases present no material differences in the applicable facts. Stipulated Facts 125. Therefore, Examiners are bound by;

a) the Deputy Director’s subregulatory legal interpretations, even if an Examiner in an individual case does not believe that the Deputy Director’s interpretation is in accordance with applicable law;
b) the conclusions and interpretations contained in Determinations Department memoranda on issues such as mass layoffs, unless the facts presented at the hearing are different;
c) legal interpretations found in the Service Representative Handbook;
d) legal interpretations found in Local Office Bulletins (memoranda distributed by DET for the guidance of Service Representatives and Examiners to clarify an issue); and
e) legal interpretations contained in other written DET memoranda. Stipulated Facts 127.

If the Examiner concludes that a subregulatory legal interpretation contained in any of the documents listed above is not in accordance with the law applicable to a pending case, the Examiner is ultimately bound by the Deputy Director’s interpretation. Stipulated Facts 128.

DET takes the position that Board of Review and District Court decisions which reach different legal conclusions than preexisting subregulatory legal interpretations of DET are not binding on DET, except as they affect the particular parties to the cases in which the decisions are made. DET reviews Board of Review and District Court decisions and will change its interpretation of law if it concurs with a decision. DET, however, will continue to apply its own sub-regulatory interpretations of law if, after review, the DET’s interpretation continues to differ from that set out in a decision of the Board of Review or District Court. Stipulated Facts 129.

Also at issue in this matter is DET’s consistency policy as it pertains to a TFSO package provided to employees laid off from Digital Equipment Corp. (See n. 1.) On April 9,1991 the Determinations Department of the DET notified its local offices that the Digital TFSO package constituted a disqualifying “continuation” pay based on DET’s interpretation of Itek Corp. v. Director of Division of Employment Security, 398 Mass. 682 (1986). (See Stipulated Facts 18; Appendix E.) Service Representatives thereafter consistently found Digital TFSO claimants disqualified for the number of weeks on which Digital had based their lump sum payments. Id.

In December 1991, in the case of Homer Blair v. Commissioner of Department of Employment and Training, the Westfield District Court held that the Digital TFSO lump-sum payments constituted nondisqualifying severance pay as governed by Bolta Products Div., General Tire & Rubber Co. v. Director of Division of Employment Security, 356 Mass. 684 (1970). See Stipulated Fact 19. Although DET appealed the District Court’s decision and later withdrew its appeal, the defendant continued to disqualify claimants with the same TFSO package. Id. By September 1992 the Board of Review began to issue decisions consistent with the District Court’s decision that the TFSO package was nondisqualifying severance pay as governed by Bolta. See Stipulated Facts 110. However, the DET continued to disqualify claimants in its eligibility determinations.

RULINGS OF LAW DET’S CONSISTENCY POLICY THAT REVIEW EXAMINERS ARE BOUND BY DET’S SUBREGULATORY LEGAL INTERPRETATIONS VIOLATES APPLICABLE STATE AND FEDERAL LAW.

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8 Mass. L. Rptr. 160, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dicerbo-v-nordberg-masssuperct-1998.