Anderson v. Moberg Rodlund Sheet Metal Co., 81-170.
| Decision Date | 26 February 1982 |
| Docket Number | No. 81-170.,81-170. |
| Parties | Paul D. ANDERSON, Relator, v. MOBERG RODLUND SHEET METAL COMPANY, Respondent, Commissioner of Economic Security, Respondent. |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
Paul D. Anderson, Robbinsdale, for relator.
Peter C. Andrews, Asst. Atty. Gen., St. Paul, for Dept. of Economic Security.
Considered and decided by the court en banc without oral argument.
The employee-relator, Paul D. Anderson, obtained a writ of certiorari to review a decision of the representative of the commissioner, Department of Economic Security, filed on January 15, 1981, the effect of which was to deny him unemployment compensation benefits upon the basis that he voluntarily terminated his employment without good cause attributable to the employer. We reverse and remand for further hearing.
Anderson, a sheet metal worker with 14 years' experience, was employed in that capacity by Moberg Rodlund Sheet Metal Company (Moberg) for the period from October 10, 1979, until February 20, 1980, at a rate of compensation of $12.69 per hour. On February 20, 1980, Anderson informed Moberg that he would no longer tolerate the working conditions of the job and that he would terminate on that date. His contention is that dissatisfaction with the working conditions, abusive conduct by co-employees and the failure of the employer to take remedial steps all led to his termination decision.
Anderson filed a valid claim petition on February 24, 1980, which resulted in a determination by the claims deputy on March 18, 1980, that the claimant had voluntarily terminated his employment without good cause attributable to his employer. Anderson then sought review of the appeal tribunal, contending in his notice of appeal that he quit with "good cause." Moberg did not appear at the hearings before the appeal tribunal and provided no testimony. On the basis of Anderson's testimony, the tribunal concluded, in a decision on May 8, 1980, that the claimant was doing his best work but was being hampered by the confusion in his workplace, by conflicting orders and by co-workers. The tribunal noted that complaints to the company president by Anderson were to no avail. It concluded that Anderson voluntarily discontinued his employment with good cause attributable to the employer and was not disqualified from receiving unemployment compensation benefits.
Moberg then took an appeal to the commissioner. The appeal was presented in the form of a three-page letter dated May 15, 1980, which contained the employer's version of the events leading to the termination. This letter was not furnished to Anderson but nevertheless served as the basis of the commissioner's decision to remand the matter to the appeal tribunal to hear and receive competent and material evidence by both parties.
On remand, Anderson, having no notice of the basis for appeal alleged by Moberg in the letter, presented no evidence to refute the facts stated in the letter and rested on the testimony he had presented to the first appeal tribunal. Relying primarily on the facts alleged by Moberg in the letter, now Exhibit D-7, which Anderson claims he never saw or read, the tribunal reversed the original decision and reinstated the determination of the claims deputy to the effect that the employee had voluntarily terminated his employment without good cause attributable to the employer. The tribunal noted in its decision that "the conditions complained of are fairly typical of conditions found in sheet metal shops."
Anderson appealed this decision to the commissioner, accompanying the appeal with a letter by the business manager for the Sheet Metal Workers International Association, Local Union # 32 of Duluth. This letter, inadmissible on appeal to the commissioner's representative, challenged the tribunal's finding that the conditions complained of by the employee were typical of sheet metal shops. The representative of the commissioner, relying again on the Moberg letter, affirmed the decision of the appeal tribunal. Anderson, pro se, never received a copy of this letter when it served as Moberg's notice of appeal and first received a copy of it when he appeared before the commissioner's representative.
Knowledge of the basis of the appeal, both factual and legal, is critical to the nonappealing party. "The basic principle that a party is entitled to such notice as will provide reasonable opportunity to prepare is * * * clear * * *." 3 K. Davis, Administrative Law Treatise, § 14.11 at 50 (2d ed. 1980).
A trial-type hearing conducted in an adjudicative affair need not always have the panoply of a formal courtroom proceeding, but...
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