In re the Claim of Mallia

273 A.D. 391, 77 N.Y.S.2d 739, 1948 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 4603
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedMarch 24, 1948
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 273 A.D. 391 (In re the Claim of Mallia) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re the Claim of Mallia, 273 A.D. 391, 77 N.Y.S.2d 739, 1948 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 4603 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1948).

Opinions

Bussell, J.

This is an appeal by the Industrial Commissioner from a decision of the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board dated January 20,1947, reversing the decision of an Unemployment Insurance Beferee holding that claimant is entitled to be credited with his earnings received from employment within the State of New Jersey as well as within the State of New York, during his base year ” 1944, as a basis for unemployment insurance benefits.

The issue on this appeal is whether claimant is entitled to be credited with his earnings received from employment within the State of New Jersey as well as within the State of New York during 1944, for the purpose of determining the amount of his weekly benefit rate under the Unemployment Insurance Law.

[393]*393The employer in this case is a domestic corporation with its principal oEce for the transaction of business in Brooklyn, New York, and is licensed to do business in the State of New Jersey. Its business consists mainly in rendering engineering and constructive service on ships designed for oceanic and coastal waters including navy, passenger and freight vessels, tugs and ferry boats. Its service consists of applying specified type of insulation to boilers, hot and cold pipes, and other equipment requiring such treatment. Such service is performed while the vessel is in a state of rest, afloat, or in a floating drydock in navigable waters of the States of New York and New Jersey, or in a drydock adjacent to such navigable waters.

The employer’s physical installations consist of an executive oEce and warehouse at 81 Coffey Street, Brooklyn. In addition thereto the employer leases, under arrangements, superintendents’ oEces and stockrooms at Kearney, Port Newark and Hoboken, New Jersey. Operations of each plant in New Jersey is in charge of a superintendent. The Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Corporation supplies the oEce facilities at Kearney, New Jersey, and Port Newark, New Jersey. Each of the three New Jersey superintendents is in complete charge of work performed in his immediate location with power to hire and discharge personnel and also has power to requisition supplies.

At Kearney and Port Newark, New Jersey, all employees daily report at the oEce of the employer in that area, punch a time clock and ring out at the end of each day’s work. At Hoboken, New Jersey, all employees report directly to the ship where the work is being done.

Contracts for the application of insulation and negotiations of union contracts with the ££ productive labor force ” were entered into on behalf of the employer in New York by the executive group. The productive labor force ” performs the physical operations of applying the insulating material. Claimant was a member of the i£ productive labor force ” and was hired on January 28, 1943, by the New York superintendent “as a pipe coverer’s helper ” and then advanced to the grade of ££ pipe coverer.”

On November 20, 1945, the claimant, who at all times herein was a resident of New York State, filed an application for benefits under article 18 of the Labor Law with the New York State Department of Labor. His base year as stated above was 1944. For the first quarter of 1944, the claimant’s earnings were $355 in the State of New Jersey and $318.13 in the State of New York. [394]*394During the second quarter he was absent from employment because of his services in the armed forces. His earnings for the third quarter were $235.01 for services in the State of New York and for the fourth quarter $393.13 for services in the State of New York. However, it does appear in the record that for the whole period of claimant’s employment down to and including the first quarter of 1944 he was paid for services in the State of New Jersey, $2,050.02 and for services in the State of New York, $1,775,63.

The employer-respondent reported the sum of $355, amount earned in the first quarter of the base year of 1944, to the Unemployment Compensation Commission of New Jersey. His action was in conformity with an administrative interpretation rendered on July 10, 1940, by the Assistant Executive Director of the Division of Placement and Unemployment Insurance. In accordance with this interpretation the employer-respondent was allowed a refund of $11,483.09 for unemployment insurance contributions theretofore made to the State of New York with respect to wages earned on work in the State of New Jersey.

For the period from January, 1943, to March, 1944, 80% of the employer-respondent’s total payroll was for work done in the State of New Jersey and 20% for work done in the State of New York ($1,647,000 expended in the State of New Jersey and $421,000 in the State of New York). During this same period the percentage of sales of the employer-respondent in New Jersey and New York was the same as the payroll percentages, and during the same period 61% of the employer-respondent’s productive labor personnel were used interchangeably in New Jersey and New York, 26% of which was used exclusively in New Jersey and 13% exclusively in New York. The place of work is determined by the availability of work and seniority.

Section 511 of the Labor Law applies to the issue on this appeal and reads as follows:

Employment. 1. General definition. ‘ Employment ’ means any service under any contract of employment for hire, express or implied, written, or oral.

“ 2. Work localized in state. The term ‘ employment ’ includes a person’s entire service performed within or both within and without this state if the service is localized in this state. Service is deemed localized within the state if it is performed entrely within the state or is performed both within and without the state but that performed without the state is incidental to the person’s service within the state, for example, is temporary or transitory in nature or consists of isolated transactions.

[395]*395“ 3. Work within and without the state. The term employment ’ includes a person’s entire service performed hoth within and without this state provided it is not localized in any state but some of the service is performed in-this state, and

“ (a) the person’s base of operations is in this state; or

“ (b) if there is no base of operations in any state in which some part of the service is performed, the place from which such service is directed or controlled is in this state; or

(c) if the base of operations or place from which such service is directed or controlled is not in any state in which some part of the service is performed, the person’s residence is in this state. * * * ”

Upon the facts and statute as stated above the Appeal Board in its opinion held that the Claimant’s services within the State of New Jersey in nature and volume were so substantial that they may not be deemed incidental to his employment within the State of New York. His services, therefor, were not localized in this state.”

It further held that upon the evidence produced “ that the base of operations with respect to the claimant’s services in the State of New Jersey was in that state.” It would, therefore, naturally follow that the board held that this claimant had different bases of operations, namely: one in New York for the services performed in New York and one in New Jersey for the services performed in the State of New Jersey. Such holding upon the part of the board is inconsistent with the meaning of the statute.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Vale v. Gaylords National Corp.
316 A.2d 56 (New Jersey Superior Court App Division, 1974)
In re Barry Wine Co.
283 A.D. 1131 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1954)
Collins v. Administrator, Unemployment Compensation Act
71 A.2d 604 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 1950)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
273 A.D. 391, 77 N.Y.S.2d 739, 1948 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 4603, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-claim-of-mallia-nyappdiv-1948.