Hanlon v. Board of Review of Oklahoma

2005 OK CIV APP 18, 110 P.3d 574, 76 O.B.A.J. 814, 2005 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 7, 2005 WL 645207
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedFebruary 15, 2005
DocketNo. 99,495
StatusPublished

This text of 2005 OK CIV APP 18 (Hanlon v. Board of Review of Oklahoma) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hanlon v. Board of Review of Oklahoma, 2005 OK CIV APP 18, 110 P.3d 574, 76 O.B.A.J. 814, 2005 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 7, 2005 WL 645207 (Okla. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

REIF, Presiding Judge.

¶ 1 This appeal concerns the eligibility of Kathleen Hanlon to receive unemployment compensation following the termination of her working relationship with the Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitative Services. Ms. Hanlon is a medical doctor whose work for DRS involved performing disability determinations under a contract that was terminable upon 30 days notice. Dr. Hanlon has contended that she was an employee, while DRS has maintained that she was an independent contractor.

¶ 2 The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission initially determined that Dr. Hanlon was an employee and commenced [575]*575paying her benefits over the objection that DRS filed in response to her claim. The Commission gave DRS notice of this determination and also issued a tax assessment to DRS based on the compensation DRS paid to Dr. Hanlon and other similarly situated disability evaluators. DRS did not appeal the Commission’s benefit determination to the Appeal Tribunal as provided in 40 O.S.2001 § 2-603, but did appeal the tax assessment to the Assessment Board pursuant to 40 O.S.2001 § 3-305. The Assessment Board set aside the assessment finding that Dr. Hanlon and the other disability evaluators were independent contractors. Under § 3-305, only the Commission and employer are parties to the Assessment Board proceeding and are the only parties that can seek judicial review of the Board’s decision in the district court.

¶ 3 The Commission appealed the Assessment Board decision to the district court, but also “redetermined” Dr. Hanlon’s eligibility to receive benefits based on the Assessment Board ruling. When the Commission ceased paying benefits based on the Assessment Board ruling. Dr. Hanlon filed an appeal with the Appeal Tribunal, pursuant to 40 O.S.2001 § 2-603, to challenge the Commission’s decision to discontinue benefits.

¶4 The Appeal Tribunal dismissed Dr. Hanlon’s appeal on the ground it was “inappropriate to conduct a separate appeal before the Appeal Tribunal when the substantive issue involved [in her single claim] has already been adjudicated by the Assessment Board [as to a class of individuals that included Dr. Hanlon] and [that substantive issue] is now before [the] District Court.” The Appeal Tribunal concluded “[t]he issue involved [whether claimant was an employee or independent contractor] will stand or fall with the decision rendered by [the] District Court.”

¶ 5 Dr. Hanlon appealed the Appeal Tribunal decision to- the Board of Review as provided by 40 O.S.2001 § 2-606. In her statement to the Board of Review, Dr. Han-lon complained that she received no notice of the appeal by DRS to the Assessment Board and was denied the right to participate in and be heard at the Assessment Board hearing, other than as witness via telephone. Without addressing Dr. Hanlon’s due process challenge, the Board of Review adopted the findings of fact and conclusion(s) previously adopted by the Appeal Tribunal and affirmed the dismissal of Dr. Hanlon’s appeal.

¶ 6 Thereafter, Dr. Hanlon timely appealed the Board of Review’s decision to the district court as provided by 40 O.S.2001 § 2-610. In the course of responding to Dr. Hanlon’s appeal from the Board of Review, the Commission asked the district court to consolidate Dr. Hanlon’s district court appeal from the Board of Review with the Commission’s district court appeal from the Assessment Board that was still pending. These appeals were not consolidated and the district court separately affirmed the Assessment Board decision on September 3, 2002, and affirmed the Board of Review decision on June 6, 2003.

¶7 Dr. Hanlon timely appealed the district court judgment of June 6, 2003, which is the basis for review by this court. Dr. Han-lon has noted that she was not a party to the Assessment Board proceeding, or the district court appeal of the Assessment Board decision, in explaining why she did not appeal the district court order affirming the Assessment Board decision. The Commission did not appeal the district court order affirming the Assessment Board decision, and the decision of the Assessment Board, as affirmed by the district court, is final.

¶ 8 In this appeal, Dr. Hanlon has basically argued that the determination of the Assessment Board, as affirmed upon district court review, is not binding on her nor pre-clusive of her right to litigate her employment status through the Appeal Tribunal/Board of Review process. Dr. Hanlon stresses that she was not a party to the appeal of the tax assessment that DRS filed with the Assessment Board, or the subsequent district court review of the Board’s decision. She argues that before her rights can be adversely determined or affected by any decision, she is entitled to notice of the hearing at which her rights will be determined, and must be afforded a meaningful opportunity to participate in such hearing or, at least, be heard concerning the issues being determined. Dr. Hanlon asserts that she did [576]*576not receive due process prior to the Assessment Board deciding she was an independent contractor, and was denied due process to challenge the Commission’s discontinuance of benefits to her based on the Assessment Board decision.

¶ 9 The Commission and DRS have, in essence, argued that the issue of whether Dr. Hanlon was an employee or independent contractor was common to both the Commission’s determination of benefits and to the tax assessment of the compensation paid to Dr. Hanlon and other similarly situated medical evaluators. The Commission and DRS suggest that the Assessment Board was the first appeal review of this issue and its decision should not be re-examined by other appellate tribunals. The Commission and DRS believe that the Assessment Board decision was dispositive upon its affirmance by the district court.

¶ 10 In reviewing the record and applicable law, we agree with the Commission and DRS that the question of whether Dr. Han-lon was an employee or an independent contractor is a common dispositive issue both for determining Dr. Hanlon’s entitlement to benefits and for determining the liability of DRS for taxes on the compensation paid by DRS to Dr. Hanlon and others similarly situated. We disagree, however, that the determination of that issue by the Assessment Board in the context of determining the liability of DRS for taxes assessed by the Commission is likewise determinative of Dr. Hanlon’s entitlement to benefits under the facts of this case.

¶ 11 Perhaps the best rationale to support this conclusion is found in the Commission’s district court brief. The Commission’s district court brief recounts:

The Notice of Determination that Dr. Hanlon was entitled to receive unemployment benefits was made under the provisions of §§ 2-504 and 2-507 [while the OESC] assessment made to DRS was made under the provisions of § 3-305_ Notices under ... those sections give rise to the right to appeal the determination or the assessment made. But, the appeals are handled under different sections of the Employment Security Act.

The Commission’s district court brief further states that Dr. Hanlon “received notice under § 2-507 of the Act that she was going to receive unemployment benefits” and also recounts: “Notice was also given to DRS under § 2-507 that Dr. Hanlon was receiving unemployment benefits.”

¶ 12 The Commission’s district court brief further recounts that the “assessment made to DRS was made under the provisions of § 3-305” and that “DRS protested the assessment

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2005 OK CIV APP 18, 110 P.3d 574, 76 O.B.A.J. 814, 2005 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 7, 2005 WL 645207, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hanlon-v-board-of-review-of-oklahoma-oklacivapp-2005.