Jones v. UNEMPLOYMENT COMP. BD., ETC.

518 A.2d 1150, 513 Pa. 45, 1986 Pa. LEXIS 931

• Court: Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
• Decided: December 10, 1986
• Docket: 32 M.D. Appeal Docket, 1985
• Status: Published

Opinions

OPINION OF THE COURT

FLAHERTY, Justice.

We granted the petition for allowance of appeal of Mary N. Jones to consider whether Section 3 of the Unemployment Compensation Law, 43 P.S. § 752, can operate to deny benefits where a teacher is discharged due to failure to secure a teaching certificate.

Mrs. Jones was a certified teacher in the State of New York. Upon becoming employed as a teacher in Pennsylvania, Mrs. Jones was advised that she lacked three college courses necessary for certification in this Commonwealth. In May, 1980, she received an emergency teaching certificate which was valid for the next following school year and non-renewable. Mrs. Jones completed two of the three required courses during the summer of 1980, and, due to what she asserts as work pressure and family responsibilities, waited to complete the balance of the coursework during the summer of 1981. However, the last course was not offered locally during the summer of 1981. In late July, Mrs. Jones enrolled in a correspondence course through Louisiana State University, but because of delays in receiving course materials she did not begin the lessons until November 1981. In the meantime, Mrs. Jones applied for a renewed emergency certificate. This renewed emergency certificate was denied by letter dated December 10, 1981, “due to the inadequate rate of progress for completing” the required coursework. Faced with the alternatives of keeping Mrs. Jones employed and suffering a loss in state reimbursement or terminating Mrs. Jones’s employment, the School District terminated her on February 5, 1982 due to her failure to obtain a valid teaching certificate.

The referee denied benefits under Section 3 of the Unemployment Compensation Law on the basis that Mrs. Jones was unemployed through her own fault. This decision was affirmed by the Board and Commonwealth Court. 86 Pa. Cmwlth. 405, 485 A.2d 526.

Section 3 of the Unemployment Compensation Law provides:

Economic insecurity due to unemployment is a serious menace to the health, morals, and welfare of the people of the Commonwealth. Involuntary unemployment and its resulting burden of indigency falls with crushing force upon the unemployed worker, and ultimately upon the Commonwealth and its political subdivisions in the form of poor relief assistance. Security against unemployment and the spread of indigency can best be provided by the systematic setting aside of financial reserves to be used as compensation for loss of wages by employes during periods when they become unemployed through no fault of their own. The principle of the accumulation of financial reserves, the sharing of risks, and the payment of compensation with respect to unemployment meets the need of protection against the hazards of unemployment and indigency. The Legislature, therefore, declares that in its considered judgment the public good and the general welfare of the citizens of this Commonwealth require the exercise of the police powers of the Commonwealth in the enactment of this act for the compulsory setting aside of unemployment reserves to be used for the benefit of persons unemployed through no fault of their own.

43 P.S. § 752 [Emphasis supplied.] This provision has, since its enactment, provided an independent basis for denying unemployment compensation benefits where claimants were unemployed due to some activity, often wholly unrelated to their work, which nevertheless bore upon their fitness for employment.

In Dept. L. & I. v. Unemployment Comp. Bd. Rev., 148 Pa. Super. 246, 24 A.2d 667 (1942), claimant’s unemployment resulted from his conviction and imprisonment for larceny. The theft was not from his employer. In affirming the denial of unemployment compensation benefits, Superior Court stated, “The Declaration of Public Policy [contained in Section 3] negatives the conclusion that one who has lost his employment because of his commission of a crime involving moral turpitude shall receive compensation for the unemployment which resulted from his own criminal act.” Id., 148 Pa.Superior Ct. at 248, 24 A.2d at 668. This Court later expressly approved Superior Court’s interpretation of Section 3 in Barclay White Co. v. Unemployment Comp. Bd. Rev., 356 Pa. 43, 50 A.2d 336 (1947) cert. denied, 332 U.S. 761, 68 S.Ct. 63, 92 L.Ed. 347 (1947), wherein we quoted Dept. L. & I. v. Unemployment Comp. Bd. Rev., supra, as follows: “[Section 3] is not a mere preamble to the statute, but a constituent part of it and is to be considered in construing or interpreting it____ If it is clear that a person’s unemployment is the result of his own fault, he is not eligible for compensation under the Act.” Barclay, supra, 356 Pa. at 47, 50 A.2d at 340. [Emphasis supplied.]

Since these declarations by Superior Court and this Court almost forty years ago, Section 3 has repeatedly been held to supply an independent basis for denying unemployment compensation benefits where a claimant’s loss of employment resulted from some voluntary activity which related to his ability to perform the work required. See, e.g., Corbacio v. Unemployment Comp. Bd. Rev., 78 Pa. Cmwlth.Ct. 70, 466 A.2d 1117 (1983) (delivery driver whose driver’s license was revoked for several off-the-job speeding violations held not entitled to benefits under Section 3); Huff v. Unemployment Comp. Bd. Rev., 40 Pa.Cmwlth.Ct. 11, 396 A.2d 94 (1979), affirmed, Smith v. Unemployment Comp. Bd., Etc., 487 Pa. 448, 409 A.2d 854 (1980) (truck driver whose driver’s license was suspended for driving, while away from the job, under the influence of intoxicants, held not entitled to benefits under Section 3); Strokes v. Unemployment Comp. Bd. Rev., 29 Pa.Cmwlth.Ct. 584, 372 A.2d 485 (1977) affirmed, Smith v. Unemployment Comp. Bd., Etc., supra, (truck driver whose driver’s license was suspended for failure to satisfy a judgment denied benefits under Section 3); U.C.B.R. v. Ostrander, 21 Pa.Cmwlth.Ct. 583, 347 A.2d 351 (1975) (union truck driver who was convicted of federal charge of conspiracy to interfere with the civil rights of another denied benefits under Section 3).

Mrs. Jones argues that Section 3 cannot supply an independent basis for denying benefits in light of this Court’s recent decisions in Local 730 v. Com., Unemp. Comp. Bd., Etc., 505 Pa. 480, 480 A.2d 1000 (1984); LeGare v. Com., Unemployment Comp. Bd. Rev., 498 Pa. 72, 444 A.2d 1151 (1982) and Penn Hills Sch. Dist. v. Unemployment Comp. Bd. Rev., 496 Pa. 620, 437 A.2d 1213 (1981). However, none of these cases involved an application of Section 3.

Local 730 in no way implicated application of Section 3. There the question was whether union employees were locked out or on strike for the purpose of application of Section 402(d), 43 P.S. 802(d), of the Unemployment Compensation Law.

LeGare involved an employee's dismissal for refusal to submit to a physical examination by an employer where the employee had reported off sick and where the employer had no established policy requiring employees on sick leave to submit to an examination by employer’s physician. LeGare’s claim for benefits was denied by the Bureau of Employment Security on grounds her refusal to submit to the physical examination constituted “willful misconduct” under Section 402(e), 43 P.S. § 802(e). All the lower tribunals affirmed, but we reversed. In doing so, we simply ruled that LeGare’s refusal to submit to a physical examination which was not required by the employer’s written sick leave policy would not, under the circumstances, constitute “willful misconduct.” Applicability of Section 3 was not an issue in the case.

Penn Hills involved a denial of unemployment compensation benefits to school bus drivers who were unemployed due to school closings on account of snow. Commonwealth Court had denied benefits under Section 401(d)(1), 43 P.S. § 801(d)(1), reasoning that the drivers were unavailable for work. In reversing, we thoroughly reviewed the entire Unemployment Compensation Law, 43 P.S. § 751 et seq., for any provision which might operate to deny the bus drivers benefits. This review disclosed no provision'which would operate to deny benefits to school bus drivers who were temporarily unemployed due to school cancellations for “snow days.” Certainly, those drivers were not in any way responsible for their unemployment as they had no control over when snow fell, how much snow fell, or the decision to close the schools due to snowfall. Thus, Section 3 was simply inapposite to the resolution of the case.

As Mrs. Jones suggests, Penn Hills does speak to the remedial nature of the Unemployment Compensation Law, and recites the rule that “an unemployed worker can be denied benefits only by explicit language in the Act which clearly and plainly excludes that worker from its coverage,” 496 Pa. at 625, 437 A.2d at 1215. However, Penn Hills also reiterates the basic proposition that “[t]he objective of the Act, as declared in section 3, is ... ‘to aid those individuals who, through no fault of their own, face the grim prospect of unemployment.’ ” Id., quoting Richards v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review (UCBR), 491 Pa. 162, 169, 420 A.2d 391, 395 (1980). Moreover, as demonstrated by forty years of case law, Section 3 provides an explicit exclusion of benefits in cases where persons are unemployed through their own fault. Thus, Penn Hills does not represent a departure from the well settled rule that persons who are unemployed through their own fault are not entitled to unemployment compensation benefits.

Next Mrs. Jones argues that persons who are unemployed for work related reasons should only be denied benefits if their conduct constitutes “willful misconduct” as provided in Section 402(e), 43 P.S. § 802(e). We reject this argument. Most, if not all, persons who have been denied benefits under Section 3 of the Unemployment Compensation Law were discharged because somehow their voluntary actions impugned their ability to do their work. Some were incarcerated and thus unable to report to work, Smith v. Unemployment Comp. Bd. Rev., 29 Pa.Cmwlth.Ct. 292, 370 A.2d 822 (1977), affirmed 487 Pa. 448, 409 A.2d 854 (1980); many lost driver’s licenses which were necessary for them to perform their work, see, e.g., Huff v. Unemployment Comp. Bd. Rev., supra; still others may have simply demonstrated criminal tendencies which their employer justifiably found undesirable, see, e.g. Dept. L. & I. v. Unemployment Comp. Bd., supra (employee convicted of larceny). It is clear that activity which does not rise to the level of “willful misconduct” may nevertheless constitute fault under Section 3. Mrs. Jones’s argument invites us to ignore the fault provision of Section 3, and we decline to do so.

Finally, Mrs. Jones argues she was not at fault. “Fault” involves a voluntary act to which blame attaches. Strokes v. Unemp. Comp. Bd. Rev., supra. It connotes some causal connection between a claimant’s voluntary action and that claimant’s subsequent unemployment. We hold that the record amply supports a conclusion that Mrs. Jones's unemployment was the result of her own fault.

It is clear that Mrs. Jones delayed pursuing the last required college course work for nearly nine months until the summer of 1981, allowing two college semesters to pass without completing any course work. Mrs. Jones’s reason for the delay, as stated supra, was that she was working full time as a teacher in addition to attending to her responsibilities as a wife and mother. While we are not insensitive to the demands placed on a wife and mother who also works full-time outside the home; nevertheless, we cannot escape the conclusion that Mrs. Jones’s freely made decision to delay the remaining course work until the following summer contributed directly to her inability to complete the required course work before expiration of her emergency teaching certificate. Because the decision to delay pursuit of the remaining required course work was made out of concern for the convenience of Mrs. Jones, the risk that the delay might result in her unemployment properly falls upon Mrs. Jones.

The order of Commonwealth Court affirming denial of unemployment compensation benefits by operation of Section 3 is

Affirmed.

NIX, C.J., filed a concurring opinion. LARSEN, J., filed a dissenting opinion.