Marella v. Employment Department & Concorde Career Colleges, Inc.

194 P.3d 849, 223 Or. App. 121, 2008 Ore. App. LEXIS 1473
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedOctober 15, 2008
Docket07AB0480; A135366
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 194 P.3d 849 (Marella v. Employment Department & Concorde Career Colleges, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Marella v. Employment Department & Concorde Career Colleges, Inc., 194 P.3d 849, 223 Or. App. 121, 2008 Ore. App. LEXIS 1473 (Or. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

WOLLHEIM, J.

Claimant seeks review of an order of the Employment Appeals Board (EAB) that disqualified her from receiving unemployment benefits for a specified period of time because she refused an offer of suitable work without good cause. The issue raised here is whether the EAB erred, both factually and legally, in determining that claimant did not have good cause to refuse to accept a position because it did not provide health benefits. We review for errors of law and substantial evidence, ORS 183.482(8)(a) and (c), and affirm.

The EAB adopted the following facts:

“(1) Claimant filed a claim for unemployment insurance benefits [and she qualified for benefits]. She registered for work as a dental assistant or as a dental assistant instructor. On August 28, 2006 the employer, Concorde Career Colleges Incorporated, offered claimant work as a dental assistant instructor in Portland, Oregon, at the hourly wage of $16.64 for 16 hours per week. Claimant refused the job offer only because the employer did not offer medical benefits.
“(2) Claimant has the experience and training for work as a dental assistant instructor. Claimant worked previously for the employer as a dental assistant instructor at the same wage as the employer offered. Claimant lives in Portland. The labor market for dental assistant instructors is the Portland metropolitan area.”

Claimant submitted a supplemental declaration.1 The following facts are from claimant’s declaration and are not disputed by the EAB. Claimant has been diagnosed with multiple chronic medical conditions. At the time that claimant refused the job offer, she was taking prescribed medications for those conditions. She understood that her need for regular medical treatment and prescription medicines would continue throughout her life. Claimant’s costs for medical insurance and for out-of-pocket medical expenses averaged almost $500 a month.

[124]*124Prior to the job offer, claimant worked as an on-call substitute instructor for the college. The on-call work did not disqualify claimant from receiving unemployment benefits. Claimant had conversations with the college’s dental director concerning a potential full-time position, for which claimant would be considered. Claimant did not know if accepting the part-time position at the college would have precluded her from consideration for the potential full-time position. As previously stated, claimant refused the offer of working 16 hours a week because that position did not include medical benefits.

The Employment Department’s administrative decision concluded that claimant refused, without good cause, to accept suitable work. Claimant requested a hearing. The administrative law judge’s (ALJ) order affirmed the Employment Department’s decision. The final order concluded that claimant “ha[d] not shown good cause for fail[ing] to accept work.” The EAB affirmed the final order.

Claimant filed a petition for judicial review. Subsequently, claimant supplemented the record with her declaration and a supporting exhibit, as discussed above. See ORS 183.482(5). Thereafter, the EAB elected to stand on its original findings and order disqualifying claimant from receiving unemployment benefits.

Claimant makes four assignments of error on review. Claimant’s first and third assignments challenge the EAB’s finding that claimant refused a job offer. We conclude that the record contains substantial evidence to support the EAB’s findings that claimant was offered a job and that she refused that job, and we reject those two assignments of error without further discussion. See ORS 183.482(8)(c) (providing that this court shall affirm upon a finding that substantial evidence exists “when the record, viewed as a whole, would permit a reasonable person to make that finding”).

Claimant’s second assignment of error is that the EAB erred by failing to make a finding as to whether claimant had a permanent or long-term mental or physical impairment. Claimant argues that, because the EAB did not make a finding, its order violates ORS 183.470(2). That statute requires that “[t]he findings of fact shall consist of a concise [125]*125statement of the underlying facts supporting the findings as to each contested issue of fact and as to each ultimate fact required to support the agency’s order.” (Emphasis added.) Claimant reasons that a finding of whether she had such an impairment is an ultimate fact because that finding affects the standard for determining “good cause.”

To support that argument, claimant relies on ORS 657.176(2)(e) and OAR 471-030-0038(6). ORS 657.176(2)(e) provides that a claimant is disqualified from receiving unemployment benefits if the claimant fails “without good cause to accept suitable work when offered[.]” OAR 471-030-0038(6) provides, in part:

“Good cause as used in ORS 657.176(2)(d) and (e) is such that a reasonable and prudent person, exercising ordinary common sense, would refuse to apply for available suitable work when referred by the employment office or accept suitable work when offered by the employer. For an individual with a permanent or long-term ‘physical or mental impairment’ (as defined at 29 CFR 1630.2(h)) good cause is such that a reasonable and prudent person with the characteristics and qualities of such individual, would refuse to apply for available suitable work when referred by the employment office or accept suitable work when offered by the employer. In determining disqualification under this section, consideration shall be given to suitable work factors and exceptions as set forth in ORS 657.190 and 657.195.”

Claimant relies on the following portion of her declaration in the supplemental record:

“At [the time of the purported job offer], I was being treated for high blood pressure, thyroid disease, lichen sclerosis, hernia, and an eating disorder. To treat those medical conditions, I took a number of prescription medications. I am still treating those medical conditions.”

In her brief, claimant also relies on 29 CFR section 1630.2(h), which is referred to in OAR 471-030-0038(6). 29 CFR section 1630.2(h) defines a physical or mental impairment:

“(1) Any physiological disorder, or condition, cosmetic disfigurement, or anatomical loss affecting one or more of the following body systems: neurological, musculoskeletal, special sense organs, respiratory (including speech organs), [126]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
194 P.3d 849, 223 Or. App. 121, 2008 Ore. App. LEXIS 1473, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/marella-v-employment-department-concorde-career-colleges-inc-orctapp-2008.