Maplewood Estates, Inc. v. Department of Labor & Industries

17 P.3d 621, 104 Wash. App. 299
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedDecember 1, 2000
DocketNo. 24560-4-II
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 17 P.3d 621 (Maplewood Estates, Inc. v. Department of Labor & Industries) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Maplewood Estates, Inc. v. Department of Labor & Industries, 17 P.3d 621, 104 Wash. App. 299 (Wash. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

Seinfeld, J.

The Department of Labor and Industrie (Department) appeals a superior court decision reversin the Department’s assessment of industrial insurance pr< miums against Maplewood Estates, Inc. The Board ( Industrial Insurance Appeals (Board) had affirmed tb assessment. Finding substantial evidence to support tb assessment, we affirm the Board’s ruling and reverse tb superior court.

FACTS

Maplewood is a construction company specializing i [301]*301roofing work. The Department conducted an audit of the work hours that Maplewood reported for its employees. The audit raised questions about the hours reported by James Williams, Maplewood’s president.

Williams, a salaried employee, was not automatically subject to the Industrial Insurance Act, but he elected industrial insurance coverage as a corporate officer. Although Williams primarily performed administrative and managerial duties, he also participated in roofing-related work. As a result of the audit, the Department auditor classified Williams as a roofer and, pursuant to former WAC 296-17-350 (repealed 1998),1 assessed Maplewood 160 hours per month, 480 hours per quarter, for his work time.2

On October 30, 1995, the Department issued an order of assessment requiring Maplewood to pay $11,236.10 in industrial insurance premiums. Following Maplewood’s appeal of the assessment, an administrative law judge (ALJ) for the Board conducted hearings during which the ALJ examined additional evidence and heard testimony from Williams, his wife, and the Department auditor.

Williams testified that he had worked significantly less than the 480 assessed hours, supporting this contention with his work calendar. Williams alleged he had also offered the work calendar to the auditor but did not “provide” it to the auditor at the time of the audit. He also said that he and the auditor “didn’t specifically talk about the calendar.”

The auditor testified that she could not recall Williams presenting a work calendar. She did state, however, that she had accepted calendars during other audits provided the calendars contained “a day-by-day description” of work hours and the type of work performed. The auditor stated that she assigned Williams the standard 160 hours per [302]*302month because he had not produced “daily time sheets, clear and accurate time cards.”

After hearing testimony and closely examining Williams’ calendar, the ALJ affirmed the order of assessment. The ALJ concluded that the work calendar did not constitute “complete and accurate records” of Williams’ work hours and that the auditor properly assessed Maplewood 160 work hours for each month of the audit period.

The Board denied Maplewood’s petition for review of the ALJ’s ruling; thus, the proposed order and decision became final. The superior court then reversed the Board, holding that the assessment was arbitrary and capricious because the auditor failed to consider Williams’ “records.”

I. Review of the Department’s Audit

According to the Department, the superior court erroneously reviewed the Department’s actions during the audit rather than reviewing the Board’s decision and record before the Board, which included Williams’ testimony and calendar. But, as the Department concedes, this issue is irrelevant because we do not review the superior court’s i reasoning; we review the Board record applying Administrative Procedure Act (APA) standard of review. RCW[ 34.05.558; Okanogan Wilderness League, Inc. v. Town of Twisp, 133 Wn.2d 769, 776, 947 P.2d 732 (1997); Batchelder v. City of Seattle, 77 Wn. App. 154, 158, 890 P.2d 25 (1995).

II. Arbitrary and Capricious

The Department challenges Maplewood’s contention that| the assessment was arbitrary and capricious because the auditor and the Board failed to consider Williams’ support-| ing records. It argues that the Board considered those records but they were insufficient to refute the provisions ojj former WAC 296-17-350.

An agency action is arbitrary and capricious when i is “willful and unreasoning action in disregard of facts anc circumstances.” Skagit County v. Dep’t of Ecology, 93 Wn.2d [303]*303742, 749, 613 P.2d 115 (1980). See also Buechel v. Dep’t of Ecology, 125 Wn.2d 196, 202, 884 P.2d 910 (1994). Given the documentary evidence before the Board and Williams’ testimony as to his record-keeping system, the record shows that the Board’s decision was a careful and correct application of Department regulations and not arbitrary and capricious.

III. Substantial Evidence

Part V of the APA, RCW 34.05.510 through .598, governs judicial review of a final notice of assessment by the Board. RCW 51.48.131. Maplewood has the burden of demonstrating that the agency action was invalid. RCW 34.05.570(l)(a). The agency action under review here is the Board’s final order of assessment. See Scott R. Sonners, Inc. v. Dep’t of Labor & Indus., 101 Wn. App. 350, 3 P.3d 756 (2000); Littlejohn Constr. Co. v. Dep’t of Labor & Indus., 74 Wn. App. 420, 428, 873 P.2d 583 (1994).

We determine the validity of an agency action by examining the action at the time it was taken. RCW 34-.05.570(l)(b). This court will grant relief from the agency action only under certain specific circumstances enumerated in RCW 34.05.570(3)(a) through (i).3

[304]*304Maplewood appears to argue that the Board’s finding of fact 5 is not supported by substantial evidence. Finding of fact 5 states:

During the period July 1, 1994 through June 30, 1995, James Williams maintained records on a personal calendar of the number of hours and identity of the job he was working on for the time he spent performing roofing work. During the time he was performing administrative duties in the office, he generally left the calendar pages blank and did not note the number of hours he performed those duties. Mr. Williams also left the calendar pages blank when he was performing activities other than work for Maplewood Estates, Inc. James Williams would calculate the number of hours he worked each quarter in the office at the time he completed his quarterly report at the end of each quarter.

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17 P.3d 621, 104 Wash. App. 299, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/maplewood-estates-inc-v-department-of-labor-industries-washctapp-2000.