I. M. B. v. A. C. B.

407 A.2d 544, 1978 Del. Fam. Ct. LEXIS 4
CourtDelaware Family Court
DecidedNovember 22, 1978
StatusPublished

This text of 407 A.2d 544 (I. M. B. v. A. C. B.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Delaware Family Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
I. M. B. v. A. C. B., 407 A.2d 544, 1978 Del. Fam. Ct. LEXIS 4 (Del. Super. Ct. 1978).

Opinion

KELLEHER, Judge:

The matter is before the Court on respondent Chrysler Corporation’s motion to dismiss amended petition against Chrysler Corporation for failure to abide by a wage attachment order made pursuant to 13 Del.C. § 516.

By order of this Court dated June 13, 1978, A.C.B. was directed to pay to petitioner for the support of the parties’ two minor children and interim relief the sum of $90.00 per week. At the same time, a wage attachment issued to the Chrysler Corporation. However, on or about the same date, Mr. B. began to receive sickness and accident benefits for a seven-week period. Said benefits were paid directly to Mr. B. by the Chrysler Corporation’s insurance carrier, Aetna Insurance Company. Additionally, the Chrysler plant was shut down for a two-week period, July 28-August 14, 1978, and during that time Mr. B. was paid unemployment compensation by the State and Supplemental Unemployment Compensation Benefits (hereinafter “SUB-Payments”) by Chrysler. Mr. B. paid no monies to petitioner during this period and Chrysler withheld no monies from either the insurance benefits or the SUB-Payments.

Petitioner filed a rule to show cause petition against Chrysler for violation of wage attachment as to the sickness and accident payments made to Mr. B. Petitioner then amended the petition to include Chrysler’s failure to withhold monies from the SUB-Payments.

This Court dismissed the complaint against Chrysler as to the insurance benefits, as those were paid directly by the insurance carrier. At issue in the case at bar is whether Chrysler was in violation of an order of this Court in that the corporation failed to deduct ordered support payments from the SUB-Payments made to its employee, A.C.B.

The Supplemental Unemployment Compensation Benefits Plan (hereinafter “Plan”), created pursuant to a national collective bargaining agreement between Chrysler Corporation and the United Auto Workers, sets up a trust fund to which Chrysler is obligated to contribute and out of which SUB-Payments are made to eligible employees. Contributions to this fund [546]*546are the sole obligation of Chrysler and such funding is not chargeable in any manner to an employee.

Article VII, Section 7 of the Plan provides at 205:

“No Employee shall have any right, title, or interest in or to any of the assets of any Fund, or in any Corporation contribution thereto.”

Likewise, Section 18B of the trust agreement of January 1, 1976 between Chrysler and Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company and the National Bank of Detroit (Plan trustees) stipulates that no employee has any vested interest in either the assets of such fund or the corporation’s contributions thereto. Legal title to the assets of the respective funds out of which SUB-Payments are made are at all times in the Plan trustees.

The funds established by the Plan are in the nature of an insurance trust to which an employee has no vested rights unless and until such employee qualifies for benefits under the terms of the Plan.

Thus, the Court must first determine whether SUB-Payments made to an employee are “wages” for purposes of an order of attachment made pursuant to 13 Del.C. § 516.

There is no statutory definition of “wages” within 13 Del.C. § 516. The most applicable definition of that term in the Delaware Code is found in 10 Del.C. § 4913(c):

“Wages shall include salaries, commissions and every other form of remuneration paid to an employee by an employer for labor or services, but shall not include payment made for services rendered by a person who is master of his own time and effort.”

Although the particular question of the inclusion of SUB-Payments within the term “wages” for purposes of a support wage attachment appears to be one of first impression in Delaware, counsel for petitioner has presented persuasive argument in favor of their inclusion.

The Supreme Court of Ohio held that an employee who was laid off for lack of work but did not lose his status as an available employee and received SUB-Payments under an agreement between the employer and union, had received “remuneration” for services under the statutory definition and was properly required to repay the corresponding amount of state unemployment benefits paid to him. United Steelworkers of America, AFL-CIO v. Doyle, 168 Ohio St. 324, 154 N.E.2d 623 (1958).

Of particular relevance is the holding of that court at 625:

“It is urged that since in the instant case the supplemental unemployment benefit payment was made by a trustee and no service was performed for the trustee, such payment could not have been remuneration.
“However, this device in no way alters the fact that the payments are made for services rendered to the employer, and it is the employer who, in the first instance, considers and allows or disallows the claims. The trustee simply pays the claim as instructed.”

In W. W. Cross & Co. v. N. L. R. B., 174 F.2d 875 (1st Cir. 1949), the U.S. Court of Appeals held at 878:

“[W]e think it can safely be said that the word ‘wages’ in § 9(a) of the Act [National Labor Relations Act, as amended by the Labor Management Relations Act] embraces within its meaning direct and immediate economic benefits flowing from the employment relationship. . So construed the word covers a group insurance program for the reason that such a program provides a financial cushion in the event of illness or injury arising outside the scope of employment at less cost than such a cushion could be obtained through contracts of insurance negotiated individually.”

See also Foremost Dairies, Inc. v. Industrial Accident Commission, 237 Cal.App.2d 560, 47 Cal.Rptr. 173 (1965); Moorehead v. Industrial Commission, 17 Ariz.App. 96, 495 P.2d 866 (1972); Hyduchak v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 35 Pa.Cmwlth. 575, 387 A.2d 669 (1978).

[547]*547This exact language in W. W. Cross, supra, was cited with approval by the Delaware Court of Chancery in State v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO Local 1726, Division of Adult Correction, Del.Ch., 298 A.2d 362, 365 (1972).

In holding that the subject of health insurance programs for both employees and the members of their families is within the permissible scope of collective bargaining, as defined at 19 Del.C. § 1301(c) and (e), the court found the reasoning in W. W. Cross, supra, (and other cited opinions) persuasive but declined to decide “whether [such programs are] appropriately included under ‘wages’ and ‘salaries’ or ‘other terms and conditions of employment.’ ” State v. American Fed. of State, C. & M. Emp., Loc. 1726, supra, at 366.

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Related

Moorehead v. Industrial Commission
495 P.2d 866 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1972)
W. W. Cross & Co. v. National Labor Relations Board
174 F.2d 875 (First Circuit, 1949)
Foremost Dairies, Inc. v. Industrial Accident Commission
237 Cal. App. 2d 560 (California Court of Appeal, 1965)
Cogollos v. Cogollos
93 Misc. 2d 406 (New York Supreme Court, 1978)
Wanamaker v. Wanamaker
93 Misc. 2d 784 (NYC Family Court, 1978)
Hyduchak v. Commonwealth
387 A.2d 669 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1978)

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Bluebook (online)
407 A.2d 544, 1978 Del. Fam. Ct. LEXIS 4, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/i-m-b-v-a-c-b-delfamct-1978.