Shoreline Community College District No. 7 v. Employment Security Department

795 P.2d 1178, 59 Wash. App. 65, 1990 Wash. App. LEXIS 347
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedAugust 27, 1990
Docket12864-1-II
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 795 P.2d 1178 (Shoreline Community College District No. 7 v. Employment Security Department) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Shoreline Community College District No. 7 v. Employment Security Department, 795 P.2d 1178, 59 Wash. App. 65, 1990 Wash. App. LEXIS 347 (Wash. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinions

Petrich, J.

Shoreline Community College District No. 7 (the College) appeals the ruling of the Commissioner of the Employment Security Department that Richard A. Pelto was eligible to receive unemployment compensation benefits. We affirm.

The parties agree that RCW 50.04.030, which defines the minimum number of hours that an individual must work to qualify for benefits, governs Pelto's eligibility for unemployment compensation. The College contends, however, that the Commissioner incorrectly concluded that Pelto worked for the College at least 680 hours during the 1986 benefit year, as the statute requires.

Shoreline Community College employs full- and part-time instructors. The College does not keep detailed records of the hours its instructors work, nor does it require its instructors to maintain records of the hours they work.

The Shoreline Community College Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO, represents the full- and part-time teachers at the College. In 1982, the College and the Federation negotiated an "hours allowed" formula, which they agreed the College would use when it reported the hours that a part-time instructor worked to the Employment Security Department. Under that formula, the College estimated that a full-time instructor worked 35 hours a week and it agreed that an academic quarter included 11 weeks. The College and the Federation also agreed that each five-credit course constituted 33 percent of a full-time teaching load. The College concedes that a particular teacher might spend more, or less, time performing his job than the formula [68]*68allowed. Shoreline consistently applied the "hours allowed" formula after 1982.1

Pelto worked part time as an English instructor at Shoreline in 1986. During the first and second quarters of the calendar year, from January to June 1986, he taught English 102, a 5-credit hour course. During the fourth quarter of 1986, from September to December, Pelto taught both English 101 and English 102. The two courses totaled 10 credit hours. Fifteen credit hours constitutes a full-time teaching load.

The College terminated Pelto's employment in December 1986. Pelto applied for unemployment compensation benefits in April 1987. The College applied the "hours allowed" formula and reported that Pelto worked 513 hours during 1986, 167 hours less than the minimum number of hours required to receive unemployment. Because the College reported that Pelto worked fewer than 680 hours during 1986, the Employment Security Department denied his claim for unemployment benefits. Pelto appealed the denial of benefits. At the administrative hearing, Pelto testified that he did not keep any records of the hours that he worked in 1986. He estimated, however, that he was at school 6 hours a day, Monday through Friday, during the fall quarter and was on campus 4 hours each day, Monday through Friday, during the winter and spring quarters. Pelto calculated that he worked 770 hours during the 1986 benefits year.

The administrative law judge adopted the "hours allowed" formula of the College. Applying the formula, the ALJ determined that Pelto worked 513 hours in 1986. He affirmed the Department's determination that Pelto did not qualify for unemployment because he did not work at least 680 hours during 1986.

[69]*69Pelto appealed the administrative decision to the Commissioner of the Employment Security Department. The Commissioner set aside the decision of the administrative law judge on June 29, 1988, finding that Pelto's testimony established that he "devoted at least 770 hours to fulfilling his contractual commitments to the College." The Commissioner concluded that Pelto met the requirements of RCW 50.04.030 and was eligible to receive unemployment benefits. The Superior Court for Thurston County affirmed the Commissioner's decision.

Former RCW 34.04.130 governs judicial review of an administrative decision granting or denying unemployment compensation benefits. Macey v. Department of Empl. Sec., 110 Wn.2d 308, 312, 752 P.2d 372 (1988). The statute entitles a "person aggrieved" by a final administrative decision to judicial review. If the findings of the administrative agency are "clearly erroneous in view of the entire record" or "arbitrary or capricious," this court, pursuant to former RCW 34.04.130, may reverse the administrative decision. Macey v. Department of Empl. Sec., supra. We apply the "clearly erroneous" or the "arbitrary and capricious" standard directly to the record of the administrative proceedings. Macey, 110 Wn.2d. at 311-12. We will not try facts de novo on review. Macey, 110 Wn.2d at 313.

A finding is "clearly erroneous" when, although there is substantial evidence to support it, the court, based on the entire administrative record, is left with the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed. Farm Supply Distribs., Inc. v. State Utils. & Transp. Comm'n, 83 Wn.2d 446, 449, 518 P.2d 1237 (1974); Wallace v. Department of Empl. Sec., 51 Wn. App. 787, 792, 755 P.2d 815 (1988). The reviewing court must give deference to the expertise of the administrative tribunal. Wallace v. Department of Empl. Sec., supra. The action of an administrative agency is "arbitrary and capricious" if it is willful [70]*70and unreasoning, without consideration for, and in disregard of, facts and circumstances. Wallace v. Department of Empl. Sec., 51 Wn. App. at 792.

The Commissioner found that Pelto worked 770 hours during 1986. The College did not challenge this or any other finding of the Commissioner. Where a party fails properly to assign error to the findings of an administrative agency, under RAP 10.3(g) and 10.4(c), such findings will be treated as verities on appeal. Fuller v. Department of Empl. Sec., 52 Wn. App. 603, 606, 762 P.2d 367 (1988), review denied, 113 Wn.2d 1005 (1989). The Commissioner's unchallenged finding, which is a verity, establishes that Pelto worked 770 hours for the College in 1986. This finding supports the Commissioner's conclusion that Pelto met the minimum hours requirement of and established a "benefit year" under RCW 50.04.030.

Despite the uncontroverted finding that Pelto worked 770 hours in 1986, the College insists that the "hours allowed" formula controls the computation of hours of employment that establish a "benefit year" and entitlement to unemployment compensation because it is contained in a statutorily authorized collective bargaining agreement.

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

Related

Regan v. State Dept. of Licensing
121 P.3d 731 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2005)
Regan v. Department of Licensing
121 P.3d 731 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2005)
Shoreline Community College District No. 7 v. Employment Security Department
795 P.2d 1178 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1990)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
795 P.2d 1178, 59 Wash. App. 65, 1990 Wash. App. LEXIS 347, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shoreline-community-college-district-no-7-v-employment-security-washctapp-1990.