Harwood v. Employment Security Commission

490 P.2d 1192, 16 Ariz. App. 64, 51 A.L.R. 3d 247, 1971 Ariz. App. LEXIS 865
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedNovember 29, 1971
Docket1 CA-CIV 1516
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 490 P.2d 1192 (Harwood v. Employment Security Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Harwood v. Employment Security Commission, 490 P.2d 1192, 16 Ariz. App. 64, 51 A.L.R. 3d 247, 1971 Ariz. App. LEXIS 865 (Ark. Ct. App. 1971).

Opinion

STEVENS, Presiding Judge.

The facts necessary for a determination of this appeal are as follows: The appellant had been employed by Motorola, Inc., for over a year, when on 15 August 1969, she was terminated in accordance with a company policy with prohibited an employee from working beyond the sixth month of pregnancy. As a result of this policy, which resulted in her loss of employment, the appellant instituted review proceedings with the Employment Security Commission, hereinafter referred to as the Commission. The subsequent hearings produced the determinations, rulings and decisions set forth below.

On 5 September 1969 a deputy of the Commission made a determination which held in pertinent part that the appellant:

“ * * * left work voluntarily in accordance with a company rule on August 15, 1969. The rule required termination at the end of the sixth month of pregnancy. She was aware of this rule and accepted those conditions at the time of hire. Her leaving was voluntary and without good cause in connection with her employment.”

Because of this determination, the appellant was held to be disqualified from receiving unemployment insurance for the period from 10 August 1969 to 27 September 1969. A.R.S. § 23-775.

On 8 October 1969 the Appeals Tribunal of the Commission mailed its decision affirming the deputy’s determination to the appellant who subsequently filed her Letter of Application for Leave to Appeal. This application was denied on 24 October 1969, and on 13 November 1969, pursuant to A. R.S. § 23-681, the appellant filed a Petition for Review in the Superior Court for Maricopa County in order to obtain judicial review of the Commission’s final decision.

On 24 July 1970 the Superior Court rendered its judgment affirming the Commission’s ruling and this appeal followed.

The appellant has presented three issues for our consideration: First, whether the appellant left her work voluntarily and without good cause in connection with her employment; second, whether the Motorola policy which requires that an employee terminate her employment before the seventh month of pregnancy is void as an agreement for waiver of rights in violation of A.R.S. § 23-784; and third, whether the policy of the Commission, which deems such separation for pregnancy to be “voluntary and without good cause in connection with her employment,” is arbitrary or unreasonable. We will consider these propositions in the order in which they have been presented.

It has been well stated previously that the central overall purpose intended to be accomplished by the Unemployment Security Act is to allow compensation for a limited period of time to those capable of working and available for work who are involuntarily unemployed through no fault of their own. Beaman v. Safeway Stores, 78 Ariz. 195, 277 P.2d 1010 (1954); A.R.S. § 23-601. Appellees argue that this purpose would be frustrated by any decision which would allow the appellant to qualify for unemployment compensation inasmuch as the nature of her termination was voluntary and without good cause in connection with her employment. We disagree.

In Employment Security Commission v. Magma Copper Company, 90 Ariz. 104, 366 P.2d 84 (1961), our Supreme Court had occasion to examine A.R.S. § 23-775, subsec. *66 1, upon which appellee relies. This code section reads, in part, as follows:

“An individual shall be disqualified for benefits:
“1. For the week in which he has left work voluntarily without good cause in connection with his employment, if so found by the commission, and in addition to the waiting week, for the six weeks which immediately follow such week, and his maximum benefit amount shall be reduced by an amount equivalent to six times his weekly benefit amount.”

The Magma Copper Company case presented the question whether a worker, forced to retire on pension at age 68 or above at the instance of his employer but according to. the provisions of a collective bargaining agreement, had left work voluntarily without good cause in connection with his employment so as to disqualify him for benefits to the extent provided in A.R.S. § 23-775, subsec. 1.

In holding that such workers were not disqualified from receiving unemployment benefits, 1 the Court noted that applicants for work very frequently must take jobs which the employers tell them at the time will engage their services for only a stipulater period, and quoted with approval from Warner Co. v. Unemployment Comp. Bd. of Rev., 396 Pa. 545, 552, 153 A.2d 906, 910 (1959). Warner Co. held that such bargaining agreements between a claimant and his employer were ineffectual to thwart a statutorily expressed public policy * * * to alleviate the hardships attendant upon unemployment.” 2

With regard to the nature of a termination for compulsory retirement, the Arizona Supreme Court was of the opinion that the better view was expressed in Campbell Soup Co. v. Board of Review, Division of Employment Security, Department of Labor and Industry, et al., 13 N.J. 431, 435, 100 A.2d 287, 289 (1953), which focused upon the volition and intent of the individual worker at the time his employment is terminated. In Campbell Soup Co., it was held that:

“ ‘The Legislature plainly intended that the reach of the subsection was to be limited to separations where the decision whether to go or to stay lay at the time with the worker alone and, even then, to bar him only if he left his work without good cause. * * * They left because they had no alternative but to submit to the employer’s retirement policy, however that policy as presently constituted was originated. Their leaving in compliance with the policy was therefore involuntary for the purposes of this statute.’ ” Employment Security Commission v. Magma Copper Company, 90 Ariz. at 107, 366 P.2d at 86.

Inasmuch as our Supreme Court has expressed its opinion that the factual matrix at the time of separation should govern in determining whether a claimant’s separation from work was voluntary or involuntary, the primary questions for our consideration in this case have become simply (1) did the appellant cease working voluntarily as a matter of fact, and (2) was appellant available for work thereafter ?

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Related

Wills v. Employment Appeal Board
447 N.W.2d 137 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1989)
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495 P.2d 516 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1972)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
490 P.2d 1192, 16 Ariz. App. 64, 51 A.L.R. 3d 247, 1971 Ariz. App. LEXIS 865, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harwood-v-employment-security-commission-arizctapp-1971.