Savage v. Iowa Department of Job Service

361 N.W.2d 329, 1984 Iowa App. LEXIS 1711
CourtCourt of Appeals of Iowa
DecidedNovember 20, 1984
DocketNo. 83-1614
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 361 N.W.2d 329 (Savage v. Iowa Department of Job Service) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Savage v. Iowa Department of Job Service, 361 N.W.2d 329, 1984 Iowa App. LEXIS 1711 (iowactapp 1984).

Opinion

HAYDEN, Judge.

Claimant appeals from the district court decision on judicial review affirming the agency’s decision that he was ineligible to continue receiving unemployment benefits.

Claimant was employed at Marshall Pack in Marshalltown from March of 1981 until February of 1982 when the plant closed and claimant was laid off. He had worked shifts of 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Claimant applied for and began receiving unemployment benefits. In September of 1982 claimant enrolled in three classes at the Des Moines Area Community College. He subsequently dropped one of the classes. Claimant testified he was in class five days a week from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. and had time to complete all of his homework in between the two classes. Claimant testified he was taking nine hours and that the school considered eleven hours to be a full-time load. He stated on his original statement that he would not be willing to quit school to accept employment.

The hearing officer made the following findings of fact: “The claimant, Bryon [sic] R. Savage, is a student attending DMACC until 1:00 p.m., every day of the week. The claimant earned his wage credits from 7:00 until 3:30 p.m. and from 7:30 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.” After quoting Iowa Code section 96.4(3), the hearing officer made the following conclusions of law:

Students' devoting the major portion of their time and efforts to their studies are deemed to have no reasonable expectancy of securing employment except if the students are available to the same degree and to the same extent as they accrued wage credits. In the matter under review, the claimant is not available to the same degree and to the same extent as he accrued wage credits and the claimant does not meet the availability requirements of Section 96.4-3 of the Iowa Code. Accordingly, the decision of the deputy is correct and shall be affirmed.

The appeal board affirmed the hearing officer’s denial of benefits and adopted his reasoning, findings of fact, and conclusions of law.

On judicial review the district court affirmed the agency’s decision stating that claimant devotes the major portion of his time for studying and has no reasonable expectation of securing employment when he limits his availability to starting work after 1:00 p.m. The district court noted that claimant was not available to the same degree and same extent as when he accrued wage credits since he accrued his wage credits from 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. or 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Our review under Iowa Code section 17A.20 is limited to a determination of whether the district court made errors of law when it reviewed the agency action under section 17A.19. Woods v. Iowa Department of Job Service, 315 N.W.2d 838, 840 (Iowa Ct.App.1981). In order to make that determination this court applies the standards of section 17A.19(8) to the agency decision to determine whether this court’s conclusions are the same as those of the district court. Peoples Memorial Hospital v. Iowa Civil Rights Commission, 322 N.W.2d 87, 91 (Iowa 1982). We are bound by the agency’s findings of fact if they are supported by substantial evidence. Evidence is substantial if a reasonable mind could accept it as sufficient to reach the same findings. The fact that a different conclusion could have been reached is irrelevant. New Homestead v. Iowa Department of Job Service, 322 N.W.2d 269, 270 (Iowa 1982). However, neither we nor the district court is bound by the agency’s legal conclusions. Green v. Iowa Department of Job Service, 299 N.W.2d 651, 655 (Iowa 1980).

Iowa Code section 96.4(3) provides that eligibility for benefits requires that the individual be available for work. The claimant has the burden of showing that he or she is available. New Homestead v. Iowa Department of Job Service, 322 [331]*331N.W.2d at 270. The hearing officer and the district court in this case found claimant to be unavailable because of his status as a student.

The agency has an administrative regulation on this issue which provides:

Full-time students devoting the major portion of their time and efforts to their studies are deemed to have no reasonable expectancy of securing employment except if the students are available to the same degree and to the same extent as they accrued wage credits they will meet the eligibility requirements of the law.

370 Iowa Administrative Code § 4.23(5). In order for this regulation to apply to claimant and bar him from receiving benefits he must be found to be a full-time student devoting the major portion of his time and effort to his studies. If he fits this category, he is disqualified unless he is available to the same degree and to the same extent as he accrued wage credits.

There is little case law interpreting and applying this rule. In Davoren v. Iowa Employment Security Commission, 277 N.W.2d 602, 603 (Iowa 1979), the claimant, a full-time law student, was laid off from his part-time employment at a pharmacy. The court held that he was disqualified under rule 4.23(5) from receiving benefits because he was a full-time student devoting the major portion of his time and effort to his studies. The court noted that rule 4.23(5) had been amended since claimant’s application to provide an exception for “students available to the same degree and to the same extent as they accrued wage credits.” The court observed, “It is decisive of [claimant’s] claim that the amended rule does not apply in his case.” Id. The court rejected claimant’s equal protection challenge to the rule’s rebuttable presumption of unavailability. In finding that claimant failed to rebut the presumption, the court considered the following facts:

When laid off, Davoren only applied at retail pharmacies. He did not apply for work at any of the pharmacies at the local hospitals. And he did not apply at any of the ten outlets in Des Moines of a competitor of his former employer. Da-voren sought work in the area where he lives. Davoren did not volunteer to rearrange his class schedule. Neither did he offer to quit school.
We do not suggest that these efforts were a prerequisite for benefits. But, from the foregoing, the hearing officer could conclude that Davoren had not rebutted the presumption.

Id. at 605.

In the present case there is no finding by the agency or the district court that claimant is a full-time student. The only evidence in the record is claimant’s testimony that he is considered a part-time student by the community college which he attends. We do not imply that a court must always accept the label of full-time or part-time as provided by the educational institution. However, it is significant that claimant is classified as a part-time student. Even more important than the label itself is the determination of whether claimant devotes the major portion of his time and effort to his studies. The only evidence in the record is that claimant spends from 9:00 a.m.

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Bluebook (online)
361 N.W.2d 329, 1984 Iowa App. LEXIS 1711, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/savage-v-iowa-department-of-job-service-iowactapp-1984.