Levin v. Hasegawa

517 P.2d 773, 55 Haw. 250, 1973 Haw. LEXIS 166
CourtHawaii Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 17, 1973
DocketNO. 5350
StatusPublished

This text of 517 P.2d 773 (Levin v. Hasegawa) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Hawaii Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Levin v. Hasegawa, 517 P.2d 773, 55 Haw. 250, 1973 Haw. LEXIS 166 (haw 1973).

Opinions

[251]*251OPINION OF THE COURT BY

MARUMOTO, J.

This is an appeal by the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations of the State of Hawaii from a judgment of the third circuit court in favor of Maryellen Levin, claimant for unemployment compensation benefits under HRS c. 383, the Hawaii employment security law.

The judgment appealed from reversed Decision No. 624-71 of the referee for unemployment compensation appeals, and adjudged that claimant’s application for benefits “shall be deemed filed on July 5, 1971, with such consequences as shall follow therefrom. ’ ’

In Decision No. 624-71, the referee had affirmed the determination of the department that claimant’s benefit year began on June 13, 1971, and that the amount of claimant’s weekly benefit was $23.00.

The following consequences followed from deeming claimant’s application to have been filed on July 5, 1971: (1) claimant’s benefit year would have begun on July 5, 1971; (2) the base period for computing the amount of claimant’s weekly benefit would have been the four completed calendar quarters prior to July 4, 1971; (3) the amount of claimant’s weekly benefit would have been $54.00, computed on $1,342.25, the wages claimant was paid during the April-June 1971 quarter; and (4) the payment of claimant’s weekly [252]*252benefit would have commenced on July 11,1971.

The amount of claimant’s weekly benefit of $23.00 determined by the division was less than the weekly benefit of $54.00 to which claimant would have been entitled if her application were deemed to have been filed on July 5, 1971, because the determination of the department was based on $550.50, the wages claimant was paid during the January-March 1971 quarter.

The department did not compute the amount of claimant’s weekly benefit on $1,342.25 because the April-June 1971 quarter was not a completed calendar quarter prior to June 13, 1971, the first day of the week in which claimant filed her application, and was a lag quarter in the parlance used in the department.

The case was before the circuit court on claimant’s appeal to obtain a judicial review of the referee’s decision pursuant to HRS § 383-41. The procedure for such review is set forth in HRS § 91-14. Under HRS § 91-14(f), such review is basically confined to the record.1

However, in this case, the parties stipulated that the department “need not submit a transcript of the proceedings before the unemployment insurance referee as a part of the designated record on appeal, ’ ’ and submitted the matter to the circuit court on the following: (1) copy of referee’s Decision No. 624-71; (2) agreed statement of facts, which had attached thereto a copy of a pamphlet entitled, “Information on Unemployment Benefits,” and a copy of a determination by the department of claimant’s unemployment compensation benefits; (3) additional documentary evidence presented by the department, consisting of a print-out history of the benefit payments made by the department to claimant, the application for reconsideration of the determination of the department or notice of appeal filed by claimant, and a claim record card kept by the department with respect to [253]*253claimant’s case; and (4) testimony of an officer of the department regarding the additional documentary evidence.

There are some inconsistencies in the agreed statement of facts. The statements in paragraphs 2, 10, and 14 are inconsistent with the statement in paragraph 11. Also, the statement in paragraph 12 is inconsistent with claimant’s actions in filing claim certifications. Such inconsistencies will be elaborated later in this opinion.

The following facts are undisputed in the record: (1) claimant filed her application for unemployment compensation benefits on June 14, 1971; (2) on July 2, 1971, claimant attended a benefit rights interview held by the department, at which her benefit rights and responsibilities, and the method of computing the amount of her weekly benefit, were explained to her; (3) the department made the determination of claimant’s benefit year and the amount of her weekly benefit on July 6,1971; (4) a copy of the determination was delivered to claimant on August 3,1971; (5) on August 9,1971, claimant filed with the department an application for reconsideration of the determination or notice of appeal therefrom, stating: “Because I earned much more in the ‘lag quarter’ than in the last four completed quarters, either the ‘lag quarter’ should be counted or I should have been told the consequences of filing on June 15 [sic] and given a chance to file as of July 1”; and (5) claimant filed claim certifications, and received weekly benefit payments as follows:

Date claim certification filed Benefit weeks Date of payment of benefit Amount of benefit payment

6-19-71 Waiting period

7-6-71 6-26-71 7-20-71 $23.00

7-6-71 7-3-71 7-20-71 23.00

7-20-71 7-10-71 7-22-71 23.00

7-20-71 7-17-71 7-22-71 23.00

8-3-71 7-24-71 8-5-71 23.00

8-3-71 7-31-71 8-5-71 23.00

7-17-71 8-7-71 8-19-71 23.00

8-17-71 8-14-71 8-19-71 23.00

[254]*254Date claim certification filed Benefit weeks Date of payment of benefit Amount of benefit payment

8-31-71 8-21-71 9-2-71 23.00

8-31-71 8-28-71 9-2-71 23.00

9-13-71 9-4-71 9-15-71 23.00

We turn now to the inconsistencies in the agreed statement of facts:

In paragraph 2 of the agreed statement, it is stated that the department gave to claimant the pamphlet entitled “Information on Unemployment Benefits”, which contains a benefit table, and information regarding the manner in which weekly benefits are computed, after she filed her application for benefits. Paragraph 10 states that, at the time she filed her application, claimant did not understand that her lag quarter earnings would be excluded in computing the amount of her weekly benefit. In paragraph 14, it is stated that claimant would have waited until July 1,1971, to apply for benefits had she known that to do so would have changed her benefit amount from $23.00 to $54.00 per week.

However, paragraph 11 contains the statement: “At the time of filing, Appellant [claimant] was not informed that if she delayed application until July 1,1971, that her earnings in the April-June quarter would be included in computing her benefit amount, other than through the information contained in the pamphlet referred to in Paragraph 2, supra.”

The clear implication from the words, “other than through the information contained in the pamphlet referred to in Paragraph 2, supra,” is that at the time claimant filed her application for benefits, she had the pamphlet entitled “Information on Unemployment Benefits,” and, through that pamphlet, was informed that if she delayed the filing of her application until July 1, 1971, her earnings in the April-June 1971 period would be included in computing the amount of her weekly benefit, but she was not so informed by the employee of the department who took her application.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
517 P.2d 773, 55 Haw. 250, 1973 Haw. LEXIS 166, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/levin-v-hasegawa-haw-1973.