Ewing v. Ewing

843 A.2d 1282, 2004 Pa. Super. 46, 2004 Pa. Super. LEXIS 160
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedFebruary 27, 2004
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 843 A.2d 1282 (Ewing v. Ewing) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ewing v. Ewing, 843 A.2d 1282, 2004 Pa. Super. 46, 2004 Pa. Super. LEXIS 160 (Pa. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

BECK, J.

¶ 1 This case concerns the calculation of income available for support where a parent is terminated from his job and is successful in seeking unemployment compensation. The precise question is whether the trial court is bound by the Unemployment Compensation Bureau’s (the Bureau) ruling that the parent was not fired for cause. We conclude that the trial court is not bound by the Bureau’s ruling. Further, after careful consideration of all is[1284]*1284sues raised in this case, we affirm in part, vacate in part and remand for further proceedings.

¶ 2 Joshua (Father) and Deanna (Mother) Ewing were married in 1989 and separated in 1995. A November 2000 order set Father’s monthly support obligation for the couple’s four children at $715.89. In addition, Father was required to pay $231.84 each month for child care costs Mother incurred as primary custodian. Father is remarried and has two children with his new wife.

¶ 3 In April of 2002, Father was terminated from his position as an operator at AT&T due to extensive absenteeism. He sought unemployment compensation and AT&T contested his right to benefits. The Bureau ultimately determined that Father had good cause for his last absence and was entitled to benefits. On May 1, 2002, Father filed a petition seeking a modification of his child support obligation based on changed circumstances. In support of this request, he noted his termination from AT&T and also asserted that Mother no longer had child care expenses. Mother too filed a petition for modification, seeking payment for the children’s orthodontic treatment.

¶ 4 In August of 2002 and again in October that year, the parties appeared before a Support Hearing Officer. During those hearings, Father sought to establish that the requested decrease in his support obligation should reflect his current income, that is, the amount he received as unemployment compensation. In response, Mother asserted' that Father was fired for cause and so should not be afforded a reduction in support.

¶ 5 Mother offered as a witness Mary Young, who was Father’s supervisor at AT&T. Ms. Young testified that Father was terminated due to extensive absences from work. Within a twelve month period, Father was absent on eleven different occasions for a total of sixteen days. The last time Father was absent from work he sought leave under AT&T’s Family and Medical Leave Absence (FMLA) program, but such leave ultimately was denied. Ms. Young testified that Father’s FMLA request covered six days of absence in March of 2002, during which time he claimed he was sick with a fever. According to Ms. Young, Father’s current wife, who also works for AT&T, was on vacation during the same period.

¶ 6 In an effort to establish that his March 2002 sickness was genuine, Father offered the testimony of Barbara Lorson, his physician’s assistant, who explained that Father complained of a sore throat and fever and so was tested for strep throat by a nurse in the doctor’s office. On cross-examination, Ms. Lorson conceded that Father’s temperature was never taken by the nurse. Ms. Lorson also stated that the medical advice given to Father, which included staying home from work, taking over-the-counter medicines and getting plenty of rest, was communicated to Father in response to his own description of his symptoms and those described by his wife.1

¶ 7 Father also offered into evidence the Notice of Determination he received from the Bureau. The Notice set out specific findings of fact, including: 1) the amount of time that elapsed between the absenteeism and the date of discharge was 27 days; and 2) Father had good cause for his March 2002 absence. The discussion portion of the Notice explained:

[1285]*1285In situations where the Claimant is discharged for absenteeism, the burden is on the Employer to establish that the Claimant was absent, and that the Claimant was previously warned about work attendance. However, precedent court decisions have stated that the incident which causes the separation must be sufficiently related in time to the actual separation. In this case, the incident which caused the separation was not sufficiently related in time to the actual date of separation. As such, benefits must be allowed under Section 402(e).

Notice of Determination dated 5/15/02. AT&T did not appeal the Bureau’s finding of Father’s entitlement to benefits.

¶ 8 In addition to the testimony regarding Father’s termination, the Support Hearing Officer heard testimony regarding Mother’s employment history. Mother admitted that she was terminated from her position at Sabre Communications in May of 2001. After that time, she received unemployment compensation for an extended period; however, the benefits expired by the time of her second hearing. Mother testified that she was not seeking work and intended to stay at home to raise the couple’s children.

¶ 9 After the hearing, the Support Hearing Officer recalculated the parties’ income according to their unemployment compensation benefits and entered a temporary order. As a result, Father’s child support obligation was reduced to reflect the reduction in his income. In addition, the Support Hearing Officer found that Mother failed to notify the Domestic Relations Office that she no longer had child care expenses once she was terminated from Sabre. The Hearing Officer vacated Father’s child care contribution effective May, 2001, the date of Mother’s termination.

¶ 10 Mother filed exceptions to the Support Hearing Officer’s temporary order and the trial court heard argument on February 26, 2008. Primarily, Mother opposed the calculation of Father’s income based on his unemployment compensation figures. She also claimed that vacating the child care contribution retroactive to May 2001 was improper. Finally, Mother challenged the calculation of her own income.

¶ 11 In resolving the exceptions, the trial court agreed with Mother that a reduction of Father’s income was not warranted. It also found that the child care contribution should not have been vacated as of May 2001 and, further, that Mother’s income was not properly calculated. The trial court recalculated the parties’ incomes, changed the effective date vacating Father’s child care contribution and set out a new child support obligation for Father, who then filed this appeal.

¶ 12 On appeal, Father asserts that the trial court erred in 1) using his salary at AT&T as his “deemed income” for child support purposes, 2) reversing the Support Hearing Officer’s decision to vacate Father’s child care contribution as of the date child care expenses ceased, and 3) calculating Mother’s income based on wages she received in prior jobs rather than her most recent position.

In reviewing a support order, we are limited to considering whether, based on clear and convincing evidence, the trial court abused its discretion. “An abuse of discretion requires proof of more than a mere error of judgment, but rather evidence that the law was misapplied or overridden, or that the judgment was manifestly unreasonable or based on bias, ill will, prejudice, or partiality.”

Kersey v. Jefferson, 791 A.2d 419, 422-23 (Pa.Super.2002) (citations omitted).

[1286]

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Bluebook (online)
843 A.2d 1282, 2004 Pa. Super. 46, 2004 Pa. Super. LEXIS 160, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ewing-v-ewing-pasuperct-2004.