Frank Casilio & Sons, Inc. v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review

667 A.2d 507, 1995 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 540
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedNovember 20, 1995
StatusPublished

This text of 667 A.2d 507 (Frank Casilio & Sons, Inc. v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Frank Casilio & Sons, Inc. v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 667 A.2d 507, 1995 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 540 (Pa. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinions

KELTON, Senior Judge.

These appeals of three separate decisions of the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review (Board) raise the common issue of whether the out-of-work benefits (OWB) paid to Teamster Union Local 773 (Union) members during a work stoppage against three ready-mix concrete contractors should be deducted from their unemployment compensation benefits. In two of its decisions, the Board found that the OWB should not be deducted. In one of the cases, the Board deducted the OWB from the members’ unemployment compensation benefits. Although these cases were never consolidated, we choose to write only one opinion due to the identical issue presented by each case. We reverse the two decisions in which the Board concluded that the OWB were not remuneration and affirm the decision where the Board concluded that the OWB were remuneration for services performed.

Issue

The sole issued raised by each of these three appeals is whether the Union’s payments of out-of-work benefits in the amount of $200.00 a week to union members for picketing during a work stoppage constitute remuneration for services performed and require deduction from the members’ unemployment compensation benefits pursuant to Section 404(d) of the Unemployment Compensation Law (Law).1

Facts

The facts in each of the three cases are substantially the same. On May 8, 1993, the union members engaged in a work stoppage against three ready-mix concrete contractors: Frank Casilio & Sons, Inc., Rock Hill Material Company and Eastern Industries, Inc. (Employers). The work stoppage followed the expiration of the collective bargaining agreements between the Union and the three Employers. The Union was the collective bargaining agent for the union members employed by all three Employers and negotiated identical contracts between its members and the three Employers.

During the work stoppage, the union members received OWB from the Union in the amount of $200.00 a week. One week each month, the Union deducted the union members’ monthly dues from the OWB and the members received $173.00. The union members also received unemployment compensation benefits during the work stoppage. The issue of whether the members are entitled to unemployment compensation is not before us.

Employers contended that the union members’ unemployment compensation benefits should be offset by the amount of the OWB pursuant to Section 404(d) because the members were receiving remuneration for services performed, i.e. picketing. Three separate hearings were held and three separate decisions were made and appealed to the Board.

[509]*509In the case docketed before us at No. 988 C.D. 1994, Frank Casillo & Sons, Inc. v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, the Board found that strike captains ran the day-to-day activities on the picket line with each union member’s duties changing from day-to-day; that the union members were informed verbally of their duties and that defiance of the Union’s authority would have consequences including the loss of OWB. The Board further found that union members received the same $200.00 a week regardless of how many days a week they picketed, members were not required to picket a certain number of days a week in order to receive benefits and members performed less than the “required” picket duty and still received $200.00 a week. The Board applied Burk v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 119 Pa.Cmwlth. 360, 547 A.2d 497 (1988), petition for allowance of appeal denied, 522 Pa. 585, 559 A.2d 528 (1989), which stands for the proposition that OWB are not deductible from unemployment compensation if they are not contingent upon the performance of active picketing duty. In applying Burk, the Board concluded that the payment of OWB to the union members was not conditioned on the union members performing services but instead was compensation paid because of their continued membership in the Union. Therefore, the Board concluded that the OWB were not deductible.

In the case docketed before us at No. 2175 C.D.1994, Eastern Industries, Inc. v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, the Board found that defiance of the Union’s authority could result in consequences such as loss of OWB; that strike captains did not receive any more than $200.00 a week; that union members were expected to aid and support the strike but were not required to picket every day; that members did not have to picket for a certain number of days in order to receive OWB; and, that members who went on vacation could still receive OWB. Based on these findings, the Board concluded that there was no requirement for the performance of services in order to receive OWB and no specific conditions were imposed on union members by the Union. Based on Burk, the Board concluded that the OWB were not remuneration for services performed and were not deductible from unemployment benefits.

In the case docketed before us at No. 1783 C.D.1994, Robert D. Knauss, et al. v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, the Board found that some union members received OWB; that union members will not receive OWB unless the Union has held them to be eligible; that the Secretary/Treasurer of the Local has the authority to terminate OWB; that union members were assigned picketing duties; and, that the union members signed in every day that they picketed. The Board further found that union members would have to explain in advance if they were not going to picket; that members did not receive OWB for vacation time unless they got their vacation approved in advance; that picket captains were instructed to report to the Union if members did not appear to picket for a week; that members had to picket during the course of a week in order to receive OWB that week; and, that if members did not actively participate in the work stoppage they were not eligible for OWB.

The Board found that the witnesses clearly testified that, in order to receive OWB during the weeks at issue, the union members had to picket on the picket line at some time during the week. The Board concluded that the OWB were remuneration for picketing which must be deducted from the union members unemployment benefits.2

Discussion

The Board argues that it reached different results in these cases because of the different record presented by each case. We disagree that the minor differences in the testimony presented in each of the three eases requires a different result when the facts are so substantially similar in each case. The local Union is the same entity in all [510]*510three cases. Either it paid its union members for picketing or it did not. It obviously did not differentiate among the different Employers’ employees.

Section 404(d)(1) of the Law provides, in pertinent part, as follows:

(d)(1) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section each eligible employe who is unemployed with respect to any week ending subsequent to July 1, 1980 shall be paid, with respect to such week, compensation in an amount equal to his weekly benefits rate less the total of (i) the remuneration, if any, paid or payable to him with respect to such week for his services performed which is in excess of his partial benefit credit....

43 P.S. § 804(d)(1) (emphasis added).

In Burk,

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Related

Burk v. UN. COMP. BD. OF REV.
547 A.2d 497 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1988)
Georgia-Pacific Corp. v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review
630 A.2d 948 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1993)
Dingbat's v. UN. COMP. BD. OF REV.
552 A.2d 1157 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1989)
Minteer v. Wolfe
446 A.2d 316 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1982)

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667 A.2d 507, 1995 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 540, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/frank-casilio-sons-inc-v-unemployment-compensation-board-of-review-pacommwct-1995.