Reddell v. Oklahoma Employment Security Commission

1999 OK CIV APP 131, 994 P.2d 1188, 71 O.B.A.J. 32, 1999 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 131
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedAugust 13, 1999
DocketNo. 91719
StatusPublished

This text of 1999 OK CIV APP 131 (Reddell v. Oklahoma Employment Security Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Reddell v. Oklahoma Employment Security Commission, 1999 OK CIV APP 131, 994 P.2d 1188, 71 O.B.A.J. 32, 1999 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 131 (Okla. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

OPINION

GARRETT, Judge:

¶ 1 Appellant, Aan Reddell, was terminated from his employment with the Oklahoma Ordinance Works Authority. He filed for unemployment benefits. OESC denied the claim. Appellant appealed to the Board of Review which denied benefits, finding he was discharged for misconduct and was, therefore, disqualified. Appellant appealed to the district court. The district court affirmed, and Appellant appealed to the Supreme Court. See appeal number 89,004. The appeal was assigned to the Court of Civil Appeals, Division II, which held the Board’s denial of benefits was not supported by the evidence and the district court’s order affirming it was error. On February 10,1998, that division of this Court reversed and remanded with instructions “to award unemployment benefits to Claimant.” In the opinion, we are told the issue on appeal was “whether the evidence supports the Board of Reviews’s [1189]*1189(sic) finding that Claimant was discharged from his employment for misconduct, thereby disqualifying him for unemployment benefits.” Only a portion of the Appellate Court’s opinion was included as part of the Appendix of Exhibits submitted in support of Appellant’s Petition for Writ of Mandamus in the district court.1 There is no transcript of proceedings.

¶2 After the remand of appeal number 89,004, the Board of Review of OESC issued a new order on March 16,1998. The Board’s new order provides, in part:

The Board of Review, having examined a copy of said Opinion, finds that the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals, reversed the Board of Review’s decision issued on November 1, 1996, which found the claimant was discharged from his last employment for misconduct connected to the work and denied benefits, in accordance with Section 2-406, Title 40, Oklahoma Statutes, as amended.
It is therefore ordered by the Board of Review that pursuant to this Opinion of the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals, issued February 10, 1998, the Board of Review Opinion is REVERSED and the claimant is allowed benefits effective July 23, 1996, if claimant meets all other requirements of the Act. [Emphasis supplied.]

OESC paid benefits to Appellant for five weeks in the amount of $251.00 per week. Subsequently, OESC took the position that Appellant was not entitled to further benefits because he had not fulfilled the eligibility requirements of filing proof he had searched for another job. Appellant filed a Petition for Writ of Mandamus with the trial court to compel OESC to pay the remainder of the $4,360.00 in benefits to which he alleged he was entitled. Appellant alleged, inter alia, that OESC has a nondiscretionary duty to comply with the Court of Civil Appeals’ instructions to pay accrued benefits; that OESC arbitrarily, capriciously and without notice denied benefits, in violation of 40 O.S. § 2-608; and denied him due process and equal protection of the law, in violation of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article II of the Oklahoma Constitution. The trial court denied the petition, and this appeal followed.

¶ 3 In its Order Denying Petition for Writ of Mandamus, the trial court ordered:

[U]pon consideration of the oral arguments presented by both parties, this Court finds that Petitioner failed to file weekly unemployment claims after August 31, 1996. Therefore, Respondent complied with the Court of Appeals’ decision issued February 10, 1998 and properly paid Petitioner the unemployment compensation authorized by statute.

¶ 4 Appellant contends the trial court’s denial of the writ of mandamus was contrary to law and an abuse of discretion. In support of his contention, he asserts that OESC’s refusal to pay was an arbitrary and capricious denial of benefits in violation of statute and a collateral attack on the opinion of Division 2. He argues OESC had no discretion to withhold payment of benefits after the opinion was issued and that OESC’s refusal to pay violated his constitutional rights to due process and equal protection of the laws.

¶ 5 In the first appeal of this case, Division II held:

[T]he issue on appeal is whether the evidence supports the Board of Reviews’s (sic) finding that Claimant was discharged from his employment for misconduct, thereby disqualifying him for unemployment benefits ... [Emphasis supplied.]
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[1190]*1190The evidence, as determined by the hearing officer and adopted by the Board of Review, does not support the finding that Claimant was discharged for misconduct sufficient to deny unemployment benefits ... The Board of Review’s denial of benefits is therefore not supported by ,the evidence and the district court’s order affirming that denial was in error. Therefore, this case is reversed and remanded with instructions to award unemployment benefits to Claimant. [Citations omitted.]

¶6 Claimant contends the question of whether he was eligible for benefits was necessarily determined by the Court of Civil Appeals and that the OESC has no discretion to require additional proof of eligibility. He contends also that if the OESC knew of facts which would make him ineligible for benefits after August 31, 1996, it should have given notice of this to the Appeals Tribunal or the Board of Review. He claims it cannot be raised now, and that under § 2-608, any issue directly passed on or necessarily involved in the appellate decision has now become final and conclusive for all purposes of the Act between OESC and Appellant.

¶ 7 In effect, OESC argues that a Claimant may be “qualified” for benefits, but not be “eligible” for benefits. “Eligibility” requirements of the Employment Security Act of 1980 (the Act), 40 O.S.1991 § 1-101 et seq., appear in Part 2 of the Act, §§ 2-201 to 2-209, whereas conditions for “disqualification” under the Act appear in Part 4. See §§ 2-401 to 2-418.

¶ 8 Section 2-202 provides:

An unemployed individual shall be eligible to receive benefits with respect to any week only if the Commission finds that he satisfies the provisions of this Part 2.

¶ 9 We construe the opinion of Division 2 as a ruling on the issue of whether Appellant was discharged from his employment for misconduct, thereby disqualifying him from receiving benefits. The Court not only held he was not discharged for misconduct, but it also remanded with instructions “to award unemployment benefits to Claimant.” We construe this to mean that Division 2 found Appellant to be “qualified” for benefits in an unspecified amount. The Court’s instructions “to award” benefits to Claimant upon remand was an order to determine through an evidentiary hearing the proper amount of benefits, i.e., to determine Appellant’s “eligibility” for benefits in a particular amount.

¶ 10 Under the facts of this case, denial of benefits to Appellant for failure to file weekly claims during the pendency of the previous appeal, constituted an abuse of discretion. It is undisputed that Appellant’s benefits period began July 23,1996. It is not logical to assume that his alleged failure to file weekly work search claims with OESC after August 31,1996, could have been raised at the time his claim was initially denied on August 16,1996. Upon the denial of his claim, Appellant began the appellate process, and a change in the process occurred at that time.

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Bluebook (online)
1999 OK CIV APP 131, 994 P.2d 1188, 71 O.B.A.J. 32, 1999 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 131, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reddell-v-oklahoma-employment-security-commission-oklacivapp-1999.