J.W.B. v. Review Board of the Indiana Department of Workforce Development

952 N.E.2d 843, 2011 Ind. App. LEXIS 1436, 2011 WL 3359680
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 4, 2011
Docket93A02-1101-EX-5
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 952 N.E.2d 843 (J.W.B. v. Review Board of the Indiana Department of Workforce Development) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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J.W.B. v. Review Board of the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, 952 N.E.2d 843, 2011 Ind. App. LEXIS 1436, 2011 WL 3359680 (Ind. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

OPINION

KIRSCH, Judge.

J.W.B. appeals from an adverse determination of his claim for unemployment benefits. The following restated issue, which we find to be dispositive, is presented for our review: whether the Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”) abused her discretion by denying J.W.B.’s motions for continuance of his unemployment insurance appeal hearing and proceeding to disposition without his participation.

We reverse and remand with instructions.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

J.W.B. was employed by Company as a branch manager from April 15, 2009 until April 30, 2010. Thereafter, J.W.B. sought unemployment insurance benefits through the Indiana Department of Workforce Development (“DWD”). A claims deputy found that J.W.B. did not voluntarily leave without good cause in connection with his work and was qualified to start receiving benefits. J.W.B. began receiving his benefits in May 2010.

On June 21, 2010, Company appealed the grant of benefits to J.W.B. and requested a hearing on the matter, which was ultimately scheduled for July 12, 2010. Company failed to appear at the hearing it requested, and the ALJ dismissed the appeal on July 16, 2010. A representative for Company faxed a request that the case be reopened, explaining that an incorrect telephone number had been provided by the employer and that the representative could not contact the ALJ in time to correct the error. The Director of Unemployment Insurance Appeals issued his notice of reinstatement of the appeal on October 15, 2010.

The ALJ notified the parties that she had scheduled the matter for a telephonic hearing on November 10, 2010. On November 3, 2010, J.W.B.’s counsel filed a motion to continue the hearing, in which counsel stated that J.W.B.’s mother had recently passed away, and J.W.B. was required to travel out of state for a period of six weeks beginning November 8, 2010. J.W.B. also noted that during that period of time he would be without access to a telephone on an intermittent basis. The ALJ denied J.W.B.’s motion on November 4, 2010, finding that J.W.B. had not demonstrated good cause for the continuance.

On November 10, 2010, counsel for J.W.B. filed another motion for continuance in which she restated the grounds previously asserted in the first motion for continuance, and stated that she was representing another claimant on the same date and at the same time as J.W.B.’s hearing was scheduled. J.W.B.’s counsel proceeded with the other claimant’s hearing, and the ALJ in J.W.B.’s case proceeded without J.W.B.’s participation, after twice calling J.W.B.’s counsel and receiving a busy signal. On November 16, 2010, the ALJ issued her opinion in which she indicated that J.W.B. had failed to partid- *845 pate and reversed the claims deputy’s determination of J.W.B.’s eligibility for benefits.

J.W.B.’s counsel appealed the matter to the Review Board on November 17, 2010. The Review Board, without holding a hearing, or receiving additional evidence, affirmed the ALJ’s decision on the merits on December 20, 2010. J.W.B. now appeals.

DISCUSSION AND DECISION

In J.W.B.’s letter to the Review Board, J.W.B. detailed his requests for a continuance and the ALJ’s decision to deny them. J.W.B. asked the Review Board to consider his allegation that the ALJ abused her discretion by denying his requests for continuance of the November 10, 2010 hearing and remand the matter to the ALJ for a new hearing on the merits.

The Review Board in this case adopted and incorporated by reference the ALJ’s findings of fact and conclusions thereon, and relied upon the previously established record in affirming the ALJ’s decision that J.W.B. was ineligible for benefits. The ALJ, in her summary of the case, noted that J.W.B. had faded to participate in the hearing, and in her conclusions of law, found that J.W.B. had failed to sustain his burden of proving that he had voluntarily left his employment for good cause. In all other respects, the ALJ’s decision is silent about her conclusion that the grounds stated in support of the motions for continuance did not constitute sufficient cause for granting them. Likewise, the Review Board’s wholesale adoption of the ALJ’s findings and conclusions is silent about its conclusion that the ALJ’s denial of the motions for continuance should be affirmed, if that issue was even considered by the Review Board. Based upon the record before us, we are unable to make a determination one way or the other.

Indiana’s Unemployment Compensation Act (“the Act”) provides that any decision of the Review Board shall be conclusive and binding as to all questions of fact. Ind.Code § 22-4-17-12(a). When the Review Board’s decision is challenged as contrary to law, a court on review is limited to a two-part inquiry into: (1) the sufficiency of the facts found to sustain the decision; and (2) the sufficiency of the evidencé to sustain the findings of facts. I.C. § 22-4-17-12®. Under this standard, courts are called upon to review (1) determinations of specific or “basic” underlying facts, (2) conclusions or inferences from those facts, sometimes called “ultimate facts,” and (3) conclusions of law. See McClain v. Review Bd. of Ind. Dep’t of Workforce Dev., 693 N.E.2d 1314, 1317 (Ind.1998). The Review Board’s findings of basic fact are subject to a “substantial evidence” standard of review. Id. In this analysis the appellate court neither reweighs the evidence nor assesses the credibility of witnesses and considers only the evidence most favorable to the Review Board’s findings. Id. The Review Board’s conclusions as to ultimate facts involve an inference or deduction based on the findings of basic fact. Id. As such, they are typically reviewed to ensure that the Review Board’s inference is “reasonable” or “reasonable in light of [the Board’s] findings.” Id. at 1318. Legal propositions are reviewed for their correctness. Id.

We reiterate that the issue here is the sufficiency of the facts to sustain the ALJ’s decision to deny J.W.B.’s two motions for continuance; one citing the recent death of J.W.B.’s mother, and the second restating the allegations of the first, and citing J.W.B.’s counsel’s scheduling conflict with two different DWD ALJs. The State’s focus on the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the ALJ’s decision to reverse the claims deputy’s determination of J.W.B.’s eligibility for benefits misses the mark. *846 The Review Board was asked to determine if the ALJ abused her discretion by denying the motions for continuance, the ALJ’s findings of fact and conclusions on that issue were silent, and the Review Board merely adopted the ALJ’s findings and conclusions thereon without holding a hearing or taking further evidence.

Our research reveals that 646 Indiana Administrative Code 3-12-3, regarding the conduct of hearings before an ALJ, expired under Indiana Code chapter 4-22-2.5 effective January 1, 2009. Effective January 1, 2009, the Commissioner of the DWD established a written policy regarding the conduct of hearings before an ALJ.

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952 N.E.2d 843, 2011 Ind. App. LEXIS 1436, 2011 WL 3359680, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jwb-v-review-board-of-the-indiana-department-of-workforce-development-indctapp-2011.