Rogers v. Arizona Department of Economic Security

644 P.2d 292, 132 Ariz. 138, 1982 Ariz. App. LEXIS 410
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedApril 15, 1982
DocketNo. 1 CA-UB 244
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 644 P.2d 292 (Rogers v. Arizona Department of Economic Security) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rogers v. Arizona Department of Economic Security, 644 P.2d 292, 132 Ariz. 138, 1982 Ariz. App. LEXIS 410 (Ark. Ct. App. 1982).

Opinion

OPINION

HAIRE, Judge.

This is an appeal from an Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board decision finding that the appellant-employee (claimant) voluntarily quit his employment without good cause and thus was disqualified from receiving unemployment insurance benefits. The claimant’s primary contention is that the appeals board erred in holding that he was bound by a report issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Division of the Industrial Commission concerning the condition of an allegedly unsafe piece of equipment owned by the appellee-employer. He urges that in making its decision the appeals board placed sole and exclusive reliance on the report for the resolution of factual issues faced by the board. Claimant also urges that the appeals board erred in substituting its factual determinations for those made by an appeal tribunal of the Arizona Department of Economic Security, which had found in his favor. The procedural and factual background necessary for determination of these issues is as follows.

Claimant was employed as a heavy equipment operator by Hintze Construction Co., Inc. (employer). He primarily operated a skip-loader grading tractor. On the Friday preceding the week of his separation from employment, the tractor which he normally operated was taken out of service for repair. The following Monday, he was assigned another tractor and told to drive it from the equipment yard to the job site, as was commonly done. Claimant testified that the tractor was not steering properly and that he almost struck another vehicle while en route. He returned to the employer’s premises and reported the problem to his supervisor. The supervisor related the complaint to the equipment manager who examined the steering mechanism and tested the tractor on the employer’s premises and on an adjacent unpaved road. The equipment manager concluded that the tractor had no steering problems, but that there was a minor amount of play in a ball joint in the steering mechanism. When claimant returned to the yard the next morning, he was told that the tractor had no steering problems and was directed to drive it to the job site, as he had started to do the previous day. He protested, and was told that he should either follow instructions or go home. He then quit. Thereafter, the tractor was operated for approximately one week by another employee without any steering complaints. Later, during a period when the tractor was not needed for work purposes, the ball joint in the steering mechanism was replaced. Further relevant facts will be set forth as required.

Unemployment compensation claims are subject to a three-stage determination procedure within the Arizona Department of Economic Security. After the claim is initially submitted, a department deputy examines the claim, and on the basis of the facts found by him, determines the claim’s validity and the amount and duration of benefits payable. A.R.S. § 23-773. A dissatisfied claimant or employer may appeal from the deputy’s determination to a department appeal tribunal established pursuant to A.R.S. § 23-671. The appeal tribunal holds an evidentiary hearing and then makes its determination, which may be further appealed to the department’s Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board. The appeals board decision constitutes the final agency determination. See A.R.S. § 23— 672. Judicial review is available by direct appeal to Division 1 of the Arizona Court of Appeals. See A.R.S. § 41-1993.

[140]*140In this case, upon the initial filing of the claim, the department’s deputy determined that claimant had voluntarily left work with good cause in connection with the employment and therefore was eligible for unemployment benefits. This determination was appealed by the employer to the appeal tribunal and an evidentiary hearing was held. The appeal tribunal affirmed the deputy’s determination. The matter was then appealed to the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, which, without taking additional evidence, reversed the decision of the appeal tribunal and found that the claimant had left work voluntarily without good cause and thus was not entitled to receive unemployment benefits. Claimant’s appeal to this court then followed.

We first consider claimant’s contention that the appeals board erred in giving conclusive effect to the report from the Occupational Safety and Health Division of the Industrial Commission. That report concluded that the particular tractor assigned to claimant on the date of his dismissal did not violate Occupational Safety and Health Division standards. The investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Division of the Industrial Commission had been made pursuant to a complaint by claimant. The investigation, however, was made after claimant had quit, and after the ball joint in the steering mechanism of the tractor had been replaced. At the time of the investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Division the replaced ball joint had not been discarded and was examined by the investigators.

Claimant contends that the board’s overruling of the appeal tribunal’s decision was based upon the board’s conclusion that claimant was conclusively bound by the Occupational Safety and Health Division report. On appeal, claimant does not contend that the report was not competent and relevant evidence. He recognizes that in some situations a report of this nature might be entitled to great persuasive value. He urges that here, however, its persuasiveness would be less than usual because the Occupational Safety and Health Division’s investigation and examination of the tractor steering mechanism did not occur until well after the tractor had been repaired. Thus the principal impact of claimant’s argument before this court is that, even though the report was admissible and had limited evidentiary value, it could not be considered by the appeals board as conclusively binding against him so as to enable the appeals board to base its determination thereon without considering and weighing other evidence in the record.

The department’s contention that claimant was bound by the Occupational Safety and Health Division report apparently is based upon one of its rules, A.C.R.R. R6-350235.D.1, which provides as follows:

“D. Risk of illness or injury
“1. If a claimant quits because of an established risk to his health or safety, he leaves with good cause in connection with the work. Such risk might be shown by the employer’s failure to comply with government requirements concerning sanitation, temperature, ventilation, or safety regulations. This is a question of fact which should be determined upon information from appropriate governmental authorities.”

While this rule might well be interpreted as making relevant a governmental report on an employer’s compliance with the rule’s stated requirements, it cannot be reasonably interpreted as making such governmental reports conclusively binding on the determination of a claim of the nature presented here. We would therefore reject as improper an appeals board decision based upon a determination that the Occupational Safety and Health Division’s report was conclusively dispositive.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
644 P.2d 292, 132 Ariz. 138, 1982 Ariz. App. LEXIS 410, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rogers-v-arizona-department-of-economic-security-arizctapp-1982.