Jori Enterprises, LLC v. Director, Department of Workforce Services

2015 Ark. App. 634, 474 S.W.3d 910, 2015 Ark. App. LEXIS 738
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedNovember 4, 2015
DocketE-15-31
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 2015 Ark. App. 634 (Jori Enterprises, LLC v. Director, Department of Workforce Services) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Jori Enterprises, LLC v. Director, Department of Workforce Services, 2015 Ark. App. 634, 474 S.W.3d 910, 2015 Ark. App. LEXIS 738 (Ark. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

CLIFF HOOFMAN, Judge

,LAppellant Jori Enterprises, LLC, d/b/a Club Z (“Club Z”), appeals from the Arkansas Board of Review’s (“Board”) decision finding that it is required to pay unemployment insurance taxes for the services performed by its tutors. On appeal, Club Z argues that the Board’s decision is not supported by substantial evidence. We affirm.

On February 21, 2014, the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services (“Department”) issued an 'unemployment-tax determination letter of liability to Club Z, concluding that Club Z’stutors were its employees for purposes of unemployment-insurance taxes. Dn March 11, 2014, Club Z filed a request for a redetermination of coverage by the Department director (“Director”) pursuant to Arkansas Code Annotated section 11-10-308 (Supp. 2013), and the hearing was held on October 1, 2014.

At the hearing, Joanne Campbell, the owner of Club Z, testified that Club Z is an in-home' tutoring company that matches tutors with clients who ’ need tutoring. When a client j2cpntacts Club Z, Campbell interviews the client to assess their specific needs, such as the particular subject for which the tutoring is needed and the client’s schedule. The clients sign a contract with Club 'Z indicating whether they, need a certain number of hours of tutoring or are in need' of ongoing tutoring each week. She then refers to Club Z’s database of tutors to determine which tutor is a good match for that particular'client. Campbell notifies the tutor about the potential client, and the tutor decides whether or not to accept the client as his or her student. If the tutor agrees to accept the client, the tutor then communicates with the client to arrange the 'day, time, and location of the tutoring session. Campbell indicated that Club Z has a standard range of rates that it charges, although the tutor or the client can sometimes negotiate a different rate with the company depending on the specifics of the assignment. After tutoring services are rendered, the tutor prepares and submits an invoice to Club Z, who then bills the client. Once payment is received from the client, Club Z retains fifty-five percent of the hourly fee and remits to the tutor the remaining forty-five percent. Campbell explained that this is not a one-time referral fee; instead, Club Z retains its percentage fee for each hour that is billed pursuant to its client agreements.

Campbell testified that each of Club Z’s tutors is required to sign an “Independent Tutor Agreement.” As part of this agreement, the tutor completes and signs a tutor profile, agrees to submit to a background investigation, and agrees to inform Club Z of any health-status changes. The agreement also contains a non-competition clause, which prohibits tutors from soliciting, diverting, or attempting to divert any of Club Z’s clients or business opportunities to themselves or to a competitor. Tutors are further prohibited from | ^contracting with a Club Z client for a period'of one year after the termination of the agreement, or alternatively,' they are required to pay liquidated damagés in the amount of $2,500. Club Z also reserves the right to cancel assignments and to immediately terminate the agreement if a client is unsatisfied.

According to Campbell, Club Z itself does not offer tutoring services but instead operates as a referral or matching service. She indicated that Club Z’s tutors typically work full time as licensed teachers or other professionals and that their work for Club Z provides supplemental income. Campbell admitted that the website for her Northwest Arkansas franchise of Club Z states that it “proudly offers one-on-one in-home tutoring for all subjects, pre-K to adult” and that some people could believe from this advertisement that Club Z was a tutoring service.

Ashley Henderson testified that she is a “private contractor” or tutor for Club Z. She indicated that she is a postgraduate student and that her tutoring jobs supple-, ment the income she receives as a research assistant. Henderson stated that she decides whether to accept a particular client and that she contacts the client directly to make arrangements for the time and location of the tutoring sessions. In order to receive payment for her tutoring services, she prepares an invoice with the number of hours worked for each client and submits it to Club Z, who then pays' her.

George Myers, a field-audit supervisor for the Department, testified that he had participated in the determination that Club Z’s tutors were employees and not inde-. pendent contractors. He stated that he had concluded from Club’s Z’s tutor agreement that Club Z | 4exercised control' oVer the tutors by controlling the assignments and the payment details. Myers further testified that he had found that Club Z was in the business of tutoring and that its tutors -performed the services at the client’s location, which was considered to be an extension of Club Z’s place of business under these circumstances.-

After the hearing, the Director issued a decision agreeing with the Department’s determination that Club- -Z’s relationship with its tutors constituted covered employment pursuant to Arkansas Code Annotated section 11-10-308 and that Club Z was responsible for the payment of unemployment-insurance taxes for the services performed by its tutors. Club Z then appealed to the Board, which affirmed and adopted the Director’s decision in an opinion filed on December 12, 2014. Club Z has now timely appealed the Board’s decision to this court.

On appeal, the findings of the Board are affirmed if they are supported by substantial evidence. Barb’s 3-D Demo Serv. v. Dir., 69 Ark. App. 350, 13 S.W.3d 206 (2000). Substantial evidence is such evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion. Id. We review the evidence and all reasonable inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to the Board’s findings. Id. Even where there is evidence upon which the Board might have reached -a different conclusion, appellate review is limited to a determination of whether the Board could reasonably reach its decision upon the evidence before it. Id. Also, the credibility of witnesses and the weight to be accorded their testimony are matters to be resolved by the Board. Johnson v. Dir., 84 Ark. App. 349, 141 S.W.3d 1 (2004).

|fiPursuant to Arkansas Code Annotated section ll-10-210(e) (Supp. 2013), 1

(e) Service performed by an individual for wages shall be deemed to be employment subject to this chapter irrespective of whether the common law relationship of master and servant exists, unless and until it is shown to the satisfaction of the director that:
(1) Such individual has been and will continue to be free from control and direction in connection with the performance of the service, both , under his or her contract for the performance of service and in fact;

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2015 Ark. App. 634, 474 S.W.3d 910, 2015 Ark. App. LEXIS 738, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jori-enterprises-llc-v-director-department-of-workforce-services-arkctapp-2015.