Missouri Ass'n of Realtors v. Division of Employment Security

761 S.W.2d 660, 1988 Mo. App. LEXIS 1442
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 25, 1988
DocketNo. WD 40354
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 761 S.W.2d 660 (Missouri Ass'n of Realtors v. Division of Employment Security) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Missouri Ass'n of Realtors v. Division of Employment Security, 761 S.W.2d 660, 1988 Mo. App. LEXIS 1442 (Mo. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

COVINGTON, Judge.

This is an action by the Division of Employment Security (the Division) against the Missouri Association of Realtors (Association) to enforce contributions by the Association under provisions of the Employment Security Law on earnings of instructors of educational seminars and classes for the Association’s member real estate agents and brokers. • From an adverse decision, the Association appeals. The judgment is affirmed.

A deputy of the Division determined on July 12, 1985, that, subsequent to January 1, 1981, certain individuals who provided instruction for educational seminars and classes of the Association performed services in “employment” as that term is defined in § 288.034.5, RSMo 1986,1 and that remuneration received for the services constituted “wages” as that term is defined in § 288.036.

The Association appealed and, after a hearing, the Appeals Referee affirmed the Deputy’s determination. The Association then filed an Application for Review with the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission (the Commission) which issued its order denying the application, thereby adopting as its own the findings and decision of the Referee pursuant to § 288.200.1. The Association then petitioned for judicial review and the Circuit Court of Cole County affirmed the Commission’s decision.

The Association is an incorporated association composed of individuals engaged in real estate marketing. In the usual course of business, the Association conducts educational seminars and classes concerning real estate related matters. In the past, the seminars have been attended primarily by individuals preparing for their real estate licensing examinations. Since July 1984, individuals have also attended classes for the purpose of continuing education.

In order to satisfy the individuals’ education requirements, the seminars must comply with the standards established by the Missouri Real Estate Commission. The Association employs an individual on a full-time basis as a director of education. The Association establishes the time and place of the seminars as well as the subject to be covered. The Association provides the instructional materials for the classes. The courses and the examinations used in the seminars and classes are developed by and are the sole property of the Association. If an instructor receives poor evaluations from the attendees, the Association takes appropriate action.

The seminars are conducted in meeting rooms rented by the Association from third parties such as hotels and motels.

The Association contracts with attorneys, real estate sales persons and brokers to serve as instructors. The Association establishes the rate of compensation for the instructors’ services. The instructors are compensated on an hourly rate for their classroom time. The Association reimburses the instructors for expenses such as meals and lodging. The Division determined that the compensation, but not the reimbursement, was “wages” in “employment.”

Judicial review of the decisions of the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission in employment security matters is governed by § 288.210 which provides in part: “In any judicial proceeding under this section, the findings of the commission as to [662]*662the facts, if supported by competent and substantial evidence and in the absence of fraud, shall be conclusive, and the jurisdiction of said court shall be confined to questions of law.” It is the function of the reviewing court to decide whether, upon the whole record, the Commission reasonably could have made its findings and drawn its conclusions. Union-May-Stern Co. v. Industrial Comm’n, 273 S.W.2d 766, 768 (Mo.App.1954).

One of the general purposes of the Employment Security Law is to provide for the compulsory setting aside of unemployment reserves to be used for the benefit of persons unemployed through no fault of their own. § 288.020.1. The legislature has specifically declared that the law is to be construed liberally to accomplish that purpose. § 288.020.2. Generally, the tax provisions of a statute are strictly construed against the taxing authority. The tax provisions of the Employment Security Law, however, “are incidental to its paramount and remedial purpose of relief, and a liberal construction of ‘employer’ and ‘employment’ is warranted to secure that purpose.” Beal v. Industrial Comm’n, 535 S.W.2d 450, 458 (Mo.App.1975).

The issue to be decided by this court is whether upon the whole record the Commission could reasonably have found that services performed by the instructors are “in employment” of the Association under the Missouri Employment Security Law, chapter 288, and that such services do not fall within the independent contractor exclusion of § 288.034.5.

The statutory test for determining whether an individual is an independent contractor under the Employment Security Law is found in § 288.034.5, which states as follows:

Irrespective of the usual tests for determining the existence of the independent contractor relationship as at common law, service performed by an individual for remuneration shall be deemed to be employment subject to this law unless it is shown to the satisfaction of the division that:
(1) Such individual has been and will continue to be free from control or direction over the performance of such service, both under his contract of service and in fact; and
(2) Such service is either outside the usual course of the business for which such service is performed or that such service is performed outside of all the places of business of the enterprise for which such service is performed; and
(3) Such individual is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, profession or business.

Section 288.034.5 requires that each and every subsection must be satisfied before an individual will be deemed to be an independent contractor. Subsections (1), (2) and (3) of § 288.034.5 must be met because they are in the conjunctive. Heritage Exteriors, Inc., v. Labor & Indus. Rel. Comm’n, 669 S.W.2d 625, 627 (Mo.App.1984); Koontz Aviation, Inc. v. Labor & Indus. Rel. Comm’n, 650 S.W.2d 331, 334 (Mo.App.1983).

In adopting the findings and decision of the Tribunal, the Commission’s findings and conclusions included a determination that the services of the instructors were not performed outside of all places of business of the Association because the rented meeting room is considered a place of business of the Association, and, further, that the Association had failed to show that the instructors were independently established as teachers of review courses. The Commission, therefore, found that the Association failed to meet both the second and third subsections of the § 288.034.5 test.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Mamo Transportation, Inc. v. Williams
289 S.W.3d 79 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 2008)
Mamo Transportation, Inc. v. Director, Department of Workforce Services
270 S.W.3d 379 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2007)
Home Care Professionals of Arkansas, Inc. v. Williams
235 S.W.3d 536 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 2006)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
761 S.W.2d 660, 1988 Mo. App. LEXIS 1442, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/missouri-assn-of-realtors-v-division-of-employment-security-moctapp-1988.