Butler v. Rutledge
| Decision Date | 12 April 1985 |
| Docket Number | 16324,E,16434 and 16117,Nos. 16325,No. 18,18,s. 16325 |
| Citation | 174 W.Va. 752,329 S.E.2d 118 |
| Court | West Virginia Supreme Court |
| Parties | William BUTLER v. Phyllis J. RUTLEDGE, Clerk of the Circuit Court of Kanawha County; Board of Review of the West Virginia Department of Employment Security, J.F. McClanahan, as Chairman, C.C. Elmore, Jr. and Gregory E. Elliott, as Members; Nyle Hughes, as Commissioner; and Spencer Construction Company, Employer. Rocky L. COLEBANK v. Phyllis J. COLE, Clerk of the Circuit Court of Kanawha County; Goodwin Lumber Company; the Board of Review of the West Virginia Department of Employment Security; J.F. McClanahan, as Chairman Thereof; C.C. Elmore, Jr., as a Member Thereof; Gregory Elliott, as a Member Thereof; and the Commissioner of the West Virginia Department of Employment Security. Kermit E. ROWE v. Phyllis J. RUTLEDGE, Clerk of the Circuit Court of Kanawha County; Board of Review of the West Virginia Department of Employment Security, J.F. McClanahan, as Chairman, C.C. Elmore, Jr. and Gregory E. Elliott, as Members; Nyle Hughes, as Commissioner; and Heck'smployer. Lonzo WELLS v. Phyllis J. COLE, Clerk of the Circuit Court of Kanawha County; Board of Review of the West Virginia Department of Employment Security; Jewell F. McClanahan, as Chairman Thereof; C.C. Elmore, Jr., and Gregory E. Elliott, Members Thereof; Jack Canfield, as Commissioner, West Virginia Department of Employment Security; and Dakota Enterprises. |
1. "Findings of fact by the Board of Review of the West Virginia Department of Employment Security, in an unemployment compensation case, should not be set aside unless such findings are plainly wrong; however, the plainly wrong doctrine does not apply to conclusions of law by the Board of Review." Syl. pt. 1, Kisamore v. Rutledge, W.Va., 276 S.E.2d 821 (1981).
2. "The Legislature must be presumed to know the language employed in former acts, and, if in a subsequent statute on the same subject it uses different language in the same connection, the court must presume that a change in the law was intended." Syl. pt. 2, Hall v. Baylous, 109 W.Va. 1, 153 S.E. 293 (1930).
3. In 1981, the West Virginia Legislature deleted from W.Va.Code, 21A-6-3(1), the provision that "work" means "employment with the last employing unit with whom such individual was employed as much as thirty days, whether or not such days are consecutive"; therefore, in determining whether an individual is disqualified under W.Va.Code, 21A-6-3(1) [1981], from receiving unemployment compensation benefits (for leaving his or her "most recent work voluntarily without good cause involving fault on the part of the employer"), "most recent work," in that context, need not be employment in which the individual worked for "thirty days" or "thirty working days"; however, once an individual is determined to be disqualified under W.Va.Code, 21A-6-3(1) [1981], from receiving benefits, the disqualification continues "until the individual returns to covered employment and has been employed in covered employment at least thirty working days," as W.Va.Code, 21A-6-3(1) [1981], further provides.
4. Where individuals left their employment and took other jobs, and the individuals, prior to working at the other jobs for thirty working days, were laid off by their employers, the other jobs constituted the individuals' "most recent work" for purposes of determining whether they were disqualified under W.Va.Code, 21A-6-3(1) [1981], from receiving unemployment compensation benefits.
Tom Rodd, North Cent. Legal Aid, Morgantown, for Colebank.
Robert S. Baker, Adler & Baker, Beckley, for Rowe.
Webster J. Arceneaux, III, Charleston, for Wells.
Garry G. Geffert, W.Va. Legal Services Plan, Martinsburg, for Butler.
Andrew N. Richardson, Dept. of Employment Sec., Charleston, for respondents.
These actions are before this Court upon appeals from final orders of the Circuit Court of Kanawha County, West Virginia. The circuit court affirmed the determinations of the West Virginia Department of Employment Security that the petitioners voluntarily left their employment and were, therefore, disqualified under W.Va.Code, 21A-6-3(1) [1981], from receiving unemployment compensation benefits. The petitioners are William Butler, Rocky L. Colebank, Kermit L. Rowe and Lonzo Wells. The respondents include the Commissioner and various officials of the Department of Employment Security. We consolidated these actions for purposes of argument and submission. This Court has before it the petitions, all matters of record and the briefs and argument of counsel.
In the Butler action, William Butler worked for Spencer Construction Company as a welder from November 3, 1981, until December 8, 1981. He left that employment to become a crane operator for Insta-Pipe, Inc. Butler worked for Insta-Pipe from December 9, 1981, until December 29, 1981. As the petition indicates, Butler was laid off by Insta-Pipe "because of weather conditions and a shut down of work by the company."
Butler filed a claim for unemployment compensation benefits. However, the West Virginia Department of Employment Security determined that he was disqualified (indefinitely from December 6, 1981) from receiving such benefits. 1
In particular, the Board of Review of the Department of Employment Security, in affirming decisions upon Butler's claim by the deputy and administrative law judge, determined that, because Butler had worked for Insta-Pipe for less than "thirty working days," his lay off by Insta-Pipe could not be considered for purposes of unemployment compensation benefits. Rather, the Board of Review looked to Butler's employment with Spencer Construction Company and determined that, because Butler left that employment voluntarily, he was disqualified from receiving benefits.
The decision of the Board of Review, disqualifying Butler from receiving unemployment compensation benefits, was affirmed on February 29, 1984, by the Circuit Court of Kanawha County, West Virginia.
The actions involving Rocky L. Colebank, Kermit L. Rowe and Lonzo Wells are similar to Butler. In those actions, the petitioners left their original employment (in which they had worked for "thirty working days" or more) to take other jobs. The petitioners were laid off from those other jobs prior to working in such jobs for "thirty working days." The Department of Employment Security looked to the petitioners' original employment, determined that they left that employment voluntarily, and disqualified the petitioners indefinitely from receiving unemployment compensation benefits. 2 Those disqualifications were affirmed by the Circuit Court of Kanawha County. 3
Ruling that the petitioners left their "most recent work" voluntarily, the circuit court held that the petitioners were disqualified, under W.Va.Code, 21A-6-3(1) [1981], from receiving unemployment compensation benefits. The petitioners contend, however, that the circuit court committed error in concluding that the petitioners' "most recent work" was the employment in which they had worked for "thirty working days" or more. The petitioners ostensibly left that employment voluntarily. However, they were laid off from subsequent jobs. Although the petitioners worked for less than "thirty working days" in the subsequent jobs, the petitioners assert that those jobs constituted their "most recent work" within the meaning of the statute. Therefore, in view of the layoffs, the petitioners claim entitlement to unemployment compensation benefits.
W.Va.Code, 21A-6-3(1) [1981], 4 provides in relevant part:
Upon the determination of the facts by the commissioner, an individual shall be disqualified for benefits:
(1) For the week in which he left his most recent work voluntarily without good cause involving fault on the part of the employer and until the individual returns to covered employment and has been employed in covered employment at least thirty working days.
In considering that statute, we reaffirm the principle that "[f]indings of fact by the Board of Review of the West Virginia Department of Employment Security, in an unemployment compensation case, should not be set aside unless such findings are plainly wrong; however, the plainly wrong doctrine does not apply to conclusions of law by the Board of Review." Syl. pt. 1, Kisamore v. Rutledge, W.Va., 276 S.E.2d 821 (1981). In addition, we note that the West Virginia Unemployment Compensation Act is designed to compensate individuals who are involuntarily unemployed. Lee-Norse Company v. Rutledge, W.Va., 291 S.E.2d 477, 482 (1982). Furthermore, as this Court held in syllabus point 6 of Davis v. Hix, 140 W.Va. 398, 84 S.E.2d 404 (1954): "Unemployment Compensation statutes, being remedial in nature, should be liberally construed to achieve the benign purposes intended to the full extent thereof." See Lough v. Cole, W.Va., 310 S.E.2d 491, n. 5 (1983).
In disqualifying the petitioners from receiving benefits, the Department of Employment Security relied upon the language of W.Va.Code, 21A-6-3(1) [1981], that an individual shall be disqualified "until the individual returns to covered employment and has been employed in covered employment at least thirty working days." As indicated below, we disagree with the Department's determination of disqualification.
W.Va.Code, 21A-6-3(1) [1981], is the product of several years of statutory amendment. 5 We are particularly concerned with the 1981 amendment to the statute, in terms of the claims before this Court for unemployment compensation benefits. Immediately prior to the 1981 amendment, W.Va.Code, 21A-6-3(1), contained a definition of the word "work," i.e., "employment with the last employing unit with whom such individual was employed as much as thirty days, whether or not such days are consecutive." As the statute then provided in part:
Upon the determination of the facts by the...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Dale v. Ciccone
...language, it is presumed that the legislature intended to change the law. We spoke to this concept in Syllabus Point 2 of Butler v. Rutledge, 174 W.Va. 752, 329 S.E.2d 118 (1985): “ ‘The Legislature must be presumed to know the language employed in former acts, and, if in a subsequent statu......
-
West Virginia Employers' Mut. Ins. Co. v. Summit Point Raceway Assocs., Inc.
...to know its prior enactments.’ Syllabus Point 12, Vest v. Cobb, 138 W.Va. 660, 76 S.E.2d 885 (1953).”); Syl. pt. 2, Butler v. Rutledge, 174 W.Va. 752, 329 S.E.2d 118 (1985) (“ ‘The Legislature must be presumed to know the language employed in former acts, and, if in a subsequent statute on ......
-
Davis Memorial Hosp. v. State Tax Com'R
...language, it is presumed that the legislature intended to change the law. We spoke to this concept in Syllabus Point 2 of Butler v. Rutledge, 174 W.Va. 752, 329 S.E.2d 118 (1985): "`The Legislature must be presumed to know the language employed in former acts, and, if in a subsequent statut......
- State ex rel. UMWA Intern. Union v. Maynard