Ehrlich v. Delray Maughan, M.D., P. L. L.C.

438 P.3d 777, 165 Idaho 80
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedApril 4, 2019
DocketDocket No. 45845
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 438 P.3d 777 (Ehrlich v. Delray Maughan, M.D., P. L. L.C.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ehrlich v. Delray Maughan, M.D., P. L. L.C., 438 P.3d 777, 165 Idaho 80 (Idaho 2019).

Opinion

STEGNER, Justice.

Denise M. Ehrlich (Ehrlich) appeals from an order of the Idaho Industrial Commission (the Commission) that determined she was ineligible for unemployment benefits. The Commission affirmed the determination of the Idaho Department of Labor (the Department) and the Appeals Examiner that Ehrlich willfully underreported her weekly earnings. On appeal, Ehrlich contends that the Commission's finding that she willfully misrepresented her wages was clearly erroneous. For the reasons set forth in this opinion, we affirm the Commission's decision.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

After losing her job of seventeen years with St. Luke's Regional Medical Center, Ehrlich applied for unemployment benefits with the Department on October 21, 2016. She began submitting weekly certifications of eligibility for benefits on April 15, 2017.

The Department performed a routine audit of Ehrlich's weekly certification reports. As part of that audit, the Department requested that Ehrlich's employer, DelRay Maughan, M.D. (Maughan), verify Ehrlich's weekly earnings. The Department noticed a discrepancy between the wages Maughan reported Ehrlich had earned and the wages Ehrlich submitted in her weekly earnings reports for six of the weeks in which she sought unemployment benefits. On September 28, 2017, the Department mailed Ehrlich a letter notifying her of the discrepancies. Specifically, the Department's letter noted discrepancies six of the eight weeks between July 15, 2017, July 22, 2017, August 5, 2017, August 19, 2017, August 26, 2017, and September 2, 2017. The letter requested Ehrlich's explanation for the discrepancies by October 10, 2017.

On October 10, 2017, Ehrlich called the Department and spoke with Melisa Huyck (Huyck), a Benefit Payment Control Supervisor for the Department. During the telephone call, Ehrlich admitted that she made a *779mistake and had entered her hourly wage rather than her total weekly earnings. However, she requested additional time in order to look into the discrepancies. Huyck extended the deadline to October 12, 2017.

Ehrlich failed to reply by the new deadline. Subsequently, on October 17, 2017, the Department issued an eligibility determination ruling, finding Ehrlich willfully made false statements in order to obtain unemployment benefits. As part of the ruling, the Department: (1) determined Ehrlich would not be eligible for benefits from October 15, 2017, through October 13, 2018; (2) sought repayment of the benefits Ehrlich received to which she was not entitled; and (3) imposed a civil penalty.

On October 26, 2017, Ehrlich sent the Department a letter (October 26 letter) explaining what the mistakes were and why she had made them. The letter included various documents including weekly certifications as well as timesheets submitted to her employer. The Department construed her letter to be an appeal of the Department's eligibility determination. As a result, the Department scheduled a telephonic hearing for November 13, 2017.

On November 13, 2017, the parties participated in the telephonic hearing with the Appeals Examiner to determine whether Ehrlich willfully made false statements to obtain unemployment benefits. During the hearing, Huyck, on behalf of the Department, testified that when Ehrlich first began filing her weekly claims, she correctly reported her total wages. However, after those initial weeks, Ehrlich switched back and forth between correctly reporting her total wages and incorrectly reporting them.1

When questioned about the discrepancies, Ehrlich stated that she did not fully understand what the question was asking. On several weeks, she "caught herself" reporting her hourly wage rather than gross earnings and corrected the error before completing the report. Ehrlich explained that on the weeks that she reported her earnings correctly, she was merely guessing correctly. For the weeks she reported them incorrectly, those were due to misunderstanding, fatigue, and stress. Ehrlich stated that her October 26 letter explained how the questions confused her.

Ultimately, on November 14, 2017, the Appeals Examiner issued a decision affirming the eligibility determination. The Appeals Examiner concluded that Ehrlich had made a materially false statement in six weekly certification reports and was unable to provide a reasonable explanation as to why she switched from reporting her total weekly earnings to her hourly rate and back again. Ehrlich appealed the Appeals Examiner's decision to the Commission.2

On January 30, 2018, the Commission affirmed the Appeals Examiner's findings that Ehrlich was ineligible for unemployment benefits because she had willfully underreported her wages. The Commission found that she was "consciously negligent" because she demonstrated on several occasions prior to submitting the incorrect claims that she was capable of submitting her wages correctly. Accordingly, the Commission affirmed the Appeals Examiner's decision that Ehrlich was ineligible for unemployment benefits for fifty-two weeks, that she had to repay any overpayments, and that she be subject to a civil penalty. Ehrlich timely appealed the Commission's decision.

II. ISSUES PRESENTED ON APPEAL

1. Whether substantial and competent evidence supports the Commission's finding that Ehrlich willfully misrepresented material facts when she underreported her earnings in weekly reports to the Department.

2. Whether the Department is entitled to attorney's fees on appeal pursuant to Idaho Code section 12-117(1).

*780III. STANDARD OF REVIEW

"When this Court reviews a decision from the Industrial Commission, [it] exercise[s] free review over questions of law, but review[s] questions of fact only to determine whether the Commission's findings are supported by substantial and competent evidence." Uhl v. Ballard Med. Prods., Inc., 138 Idaho 653, 657, 67 P.3d 1265, 1269 (2003). "Because the Commission is the fact finder, its conclusions on the credibility and weight of the evidence will not be disturbed on appeal unless they are clearly erroneous. This Court does not weigh the evidence or consider whether it would have reached a different conclusion from the evidence presented." Christy v. Grasmick Produce, 162 Idaho 199, 201, 395 P.3d 819, 821 (2017) (quoting Funes v. Aardema Dairy , 150 Idaho 7, 10, 244 P.3d 151, 154 (2010) ).

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Bluebook (online)
438 P.3d 777, 165 Idaho 80, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ehrlich-v-delray-maughan-md-p-l-lc-idaho-2019.