Distribution Services, Inc. v. Commissioner of Jobs & Training

435 N.W.2d 101, 1989 Minn. App. LEXIS 60, 1989 WL 3688
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedJanuary 24, 1989
DocketNo. CX-88-1612
StatusPublished

This text of 435 N.W.2d 101 (Distribution Services, Inc. v. Commissioner of Jobs & Training) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Distribution Services, Inc. v. Commissioner of Jobs & Training, 435 N.W.2d 101, 1989 Minn. App. LEXIS 60, 1989 WL 3688 (Mich. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinion

OPINION

BOWEN, Judge.

The Commissioner of Jobs and Training determined that relator Distribution Services, Inc. (DSI) was required to report the [102]*102wages of certain employees to Minnesota for purposes of Minnesota unemployment compensation law. DSI petitioned for a writ of certiorari, contending that it should report only to Wisconsin. We affirm.

FACTS

Distribution Services, Inc. is a Wisconsin corporation, incorporated in 1981, which hires drivers and leases them to trucking companies. DSI’s corporate headquarters are located in Hudson, Wisconsin. Approximately 90 percent of DSI’s drivers are leased to Lenertz, Inc., an interstate carrier, and DSI was established for the primary purpose of supplying drivers to Len-ertz. Lenertz has a terminal in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota, as well as at a number of other locations in other states. The president of DSI is the executive vice president of Lenertz.

DSI recruits, hires and leases drivers at its corporate headquarters in Wisconsin. New drivers receive a three-day orientation at that location and return each year for a two-day orientation session. DSI administers benefits, maintains personnel records, verifies employment, and issues checks from the Wisconsin office.

On December 23, 1987, there were approximately 200 drivers on DSI’s payroll. Seventy-three resided in Wisconsin, 24 in Minnesota, 17 in Michigan, 16 in Iowa, 16 in Illinois, 12 in Indiana, and the remainder in 15 other states.

The vice president of DSI has an office at the corporate headquarters in Wisconsin and at the Lenertz terminal in Inver Grove Heights. He has most of his contacts with the DSI drivers who work out of the Len-ertz terminal at Inver Grove Heights at his office there, addressing such matters as discipline. DSI drivers receive their day-today instructions from Lenertz and other trucking firms whose equipment they operate. The drivers drive under Lenertz’s authority, and Lenertz provides the dispatch, obtains the loads, and owns the equipment.

The Commissioner’s representative found that DSI has four classes of driver employees. The first consists of those who drive exclusively in the Twin Cities area, and who pick up their equipment from the In-ver Grove Heights terminal and return it to that location each day.

The second class consists of those who drive throughout the continental United States. While they may reside in Minnesota, Wisconsin, or some other state, they pick up their equipment at the Lenertz terminal in Inver Grove Heights and return it to that location at the end of a trip. They receive instructions for day-to-day driving activities from Lenertz at the Inver Grove Heights terminal.

The third class consists of those who drive throughout the continental United States but pick up their equipment at Len-ertz’s terminals located outside Minnesota and return their equipment to that same terminal.

The fourth class consists of those few drivers who are leased to trucking firms other than Lenertz.

In 1983 and 1984, both Minnesota and Wisconsin determined through various drivers’ claims that DSI was not an employer subject to their unemployment laws as to those drivers. From 1983 through 1985, DSI paid only federal unemployment tax; it did not pay state unemployment taxes to either Wisconsin or Minnesota because of uncertainty as to which state to pay.

On May 15, 1985, Minnesota clarified its position. It stated in a letter to DSI:

Information gathered by this Department’s field audit staff discloses that a number of your trucks are based at a terminal in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota. It is the determination of this Department that your Inver Grove Heights terminal is serving as a base of operations for your multi-state workers who are assigned to trucks domiciled at that location and that these workers fall under Minnesota jurisdiction for unemployment tax purposes.

(Emphasis added). Because DSI was unable to identify the employees assigned to trucks based at various terminals, Minnesota and Wisconsin reached a mutual agreement that for 1983 and 1984, DSI should [103]*103report its employees to their state of residence. For 1985 and subsequent years, DSI was required to report its employees to the state serving as its base of operations. On January 1, 1986, DSI made the unilateral decision to begin paying state unemployment taxes on wages of all of its employees to the State of Wisconsin.

After various proceedings, a hearing was held on January 12, 1988 before a referee who took evidence and issued a determination which affirmed the Department’s May 15, 1985 determination. DSI appealed to the Commissioner and the decision of the referee was affirmed. DSI petitioned for a writ of certiorari and the matter is before us for review.

ISSUES

1. Is Minnesota precluded from determining that DSI is an employer which must report the wages of certain classes of employees to Minnesota for purposes of the unemployment compensation law, because such employees arguably must be reported to Wisconsin?

2. Does DSI have employees whose employment is “localized” in Minnesota and employees whose “base of operations” is in Minnesota, so that DSI must report this employment to Minnesota for purposes of the unemployment compensation law?

ANALYSIS

1. DSI argues that because of recent changes in Wisconsin law, all of its employees’ services constitute covered employment in Wisconsin. See 1987 Wis. Act 255. It asserts that it is thus unnecessary for Minnesota to intervene, and that to require it to report employees to each state would be administratively burdensome.

The determination of which state should assess taxes upon the employer and pay benefits to the employee depends upon in which state it is most likely that the individual will become unemployed and seek work. In re Mallia, 299 N.Y. 232, 238, 86 N.E.2d 577, 580 (1949). This determination is made by applying a number of tests, namely, localization, location of base of operations, the source of direction or control, and the residence of the employee. Id. at 239, 86 N.E.2d at 580; Minn.Stat. § 268.04, subd. 12. Thus, rather than looking to another state’s laws, as DSI urges, this court must focus on the employee, and determine whether under Minnesota law that employee is engaged in covered employment.

Relator moved to supplement the appellate record to include two “initial determinations” from the Wisconsin Department of Industry, Labor and Human Relations, dated September 15, 1988. This court will not take judicial notice of a matter which occurred subsequent to the proceedings below, with the possible exception of an order which renders the proceedings on appeal moot. See Laff v. Laff, 161 Minn. 122, 123, 200 N.W. 936, 937 (1924). The determinations do not make this matter moot. We decline to consider the “initial determinations” with which DSI seeks to supplement the record.

2. This court may review the Commissioner’s decision by a writ of certiorari in accordance with Minn.Stat. ch. 14. Minn.Stat. § 268.12, subd. 13(4) (1986). DSI asserts that the record, when viewed as a whole, does not support the decision. Minn.Stat. § 14.69(e) (1986).

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Related

Walco Leasing v. Bilich
383 N.W.2d 374 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1986)
Laff v. Laff
200 N.W. 936 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1924)
In Re the Claim of Mallia
86 N.E.2d 577 (New York Court of Appeals, 1949)

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Bluebook (online)
435 N.W.2d 101, 1989 Minn. App. LEXIS 60, 1989 WL 3688, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/distribution-services-inc-v-commissioner-of-jobs-training-minnctapp-1989.