CHICAGO TCHRS. U., LOCAL NO. 1, AFT/AFL/CIO v. Johnson, 76 C 2294.

• Decision Date: 13 October 1976
• Docket Number: No. 76 C 2294.,76 C 2294.
• Citation: 421 F. Supp. 1261
• Parties: CHICAGO TEACHERS UNION, LOCAL NO. 1, AFT/AFL/CIO, a Voluntary Association Organized as a labor union, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Donald A. JOHNSON, Individually and as Director of Labor State of Illinois, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois

421 F. Supp. 1261

CHICAGO TEACHERS UNION, LOCAL NO. 1, AFT/AFL/CIO, a Voluntary Association Organized as a labor union, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Donald A. JOHNSON, Individually and as Director of Labor State of Illinois, et al., Defendants.

No. 76 C 2294.

United States District Court, N. D. Illinois, E. D.

October 13, 1976.

Joseph Jacobs, Lawrence A. Poltrock, Wayne B. Giampietro, Chicago, Ill., for plaintiffs.

William J. Scott, Atty. Gen., State of Illinois, Samuel K. Skinner, U. S. Atty., Chicago, Ill., for defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

FLAUM, District Judge:

Before the court is the plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction restraining the state defendants from refusing to process plaintiffs' applications for Special Unemployment Assistance SUA on the basis of an administrative determination that plaintiffs fall within the exclusion to eligibility delineated in 26 U.S.C. § 3304 note 210. The facts surrounding this action have been set forth in two previous opinions denying the plaintiffs' motion for a temporary restraining order and denying the defendants' motions to dismiss, and need not be repeated herein. The sole issue before the court on this motion for the preliminary injunction is the latitude to be accorded a state administrative agency in defining the phrase "the period between two successive academic years" without being in plain conflict with the federal eligibility standard.

The federal-state agreement governing the SUA program requires that eligibility determinations be made by the appropriate state administering agency consistent with state law. 26 U.S.C. § 3304 note 207. In Illinois, the appropriate agency is the Illinois Bureau of Employment Security Division of Unemployment Insurance, which determined that the Chicago School Board's academic year ended on June 7, 1976, three weeks prior to the scheduled school closing date of June 29, 1976. Plaintiffs applied for SUA benefits seeking payments for the three week period, and the Bureau determined that these teachers applied for benefits for "the period between successive academic years" and were ineligible under subsection 210. This court held an evidentiary hearing on September 10, 1976 to ascertain the basis of the Bureau's decision, as it had not previously been made a part of the record. At that hearing Mr. Kuczynski, the representative of the Illinois Bureau of Employment Security Division of Unemployment Insurance, testified regarding the components of the Bureau's decision of ineligibility. The critical factor relied upon by Mr. Kuczynski and the Bureau was the absence of a recall date for the teachers, indicating that school was officially closed and that the teachers would not be returning until the following school year. The Bureau reasoned that the absence of this recall date precluded a determination that the situation was an economic layoff within the ordinary meaning of the term. The Bureau also considered the fact that the school children received full academic credit for completing an entire school year. Mr. Kuczynski testified that the Bureau was cognizant of the state statute imposing a monetary penalty for school closing prior to completion of a specified number of days Ill.Rev.Stat. ch. 122 § 34-18 (1975), the official calendar and the Rules and Regulations of the Chicago Board of Education, and the provisions of the collective bargaining agreement between the teachers and the Board, however, these factors were not considered to be controlling in the determination of "academic years." Implicit in any such determination by the Bureau would be recognition of the following factors: the monetary penalty statute is distinct from any definition of an academic year; the official calendar presented by the Chicago Board is adopted as a city ordinance subject to amendment to reflect alterations of pertinent dates; the Rules and Regulations are also subject to amendment; and, the collective bargaining agreement reflects the contractual arrangement of the Board and teachers without specifically defining the academic year. While Mr. Kuczynski did not isolate a single factor as dispositive his testimony indicated that the Bureau relied on the absence of recall date and the credit awarded the school children for completion of the 1975-76 academic year. Quite simply, the Bureau determined that the early closing was permissible under state law, that it was final and irrevocable as there was no recall date, thus the academic year was terminated and the teacher applicants were "between successive academic years".

The CTU challenges the Bureau determination in a two count complaint which sets forth the classic welfare rights claims. See e. g., King v. Smith, 392 U.S. 309, 88 S.Ct. 2128, 20 L.Ed.2d 1118 (1968); Rosado v. Wyman, 397 U.S. 397, 90 S.Ct. 1207, 25 L.Ed.2d 442 (1970). Count I, the "statutory claim", asserts that the Bureau determination contravenes the applicable federal statute; count II, the due process claim, asserts that the Bureau determination was arbitrary and capricious, without reasonable basis, thus violative of federally guaranteed rights. It should be noted that the plaintiffs in this action challenge an ad hoc administrative determination not an official regulation promulgated by a state agency or department. King v. Smith, supra; Rosado v. Wyman, supra. Yet the effect of the administrative determination is to foreclose eligibility for 26,000 teachers and to, in effect, establish a regulation that certain year-end early closings by the Chicago School Board will not entitle teachers to SUA benefits. Thus any distinction between the challenged Bureau determination and a duly promulgated department regulation is a distinction without a difference to these plaintiffs.

The theory of the plaintiffs' first count, the statutory claim, is that "a state program which restricts eligibility beyond what was intended by Congress is invalid for inconsistency with" the federal Act. Mandley v. Trainor, 523 F.2d 415, 420 (7th Cir. 1975). The approach formulated by the Supreme Court focuses on the federal statute and the state restriction to determine if they are in plain conflict. Smith v. King, 392 U.S. at 326, 88 S.Ct. 2128. Thus the analysis for resolving this statutory claim must juxtapose the federal statute and the Bureau determination to assess whether the determination plainly conflicts with the intended coverage of the federal scheme.

In the instant case, the plaintiffs argue that the Bureau determination of ineligibility is in plain conflict with certain factors for evaluation set forth in a telegram dated June 9, 1976 from the U.S. Department of Labor in response to the state defendants' inquiry regarding plaintiffs' eligibility under the federal Act. Exhibit C, Plaintiffs' Complaint. The telegram directs the state defendants to examine state and local law, the collective bargaining agreement and the effect of early closing in determining whether the closing was "in fact and in law prior to the end of the school year." The plaintiffs assert that the Bureau decision of ineligibility cannot reasonably be based on these factors, as their evaluation of these factors prompts the opposite conclusion. While the court finds this analysis pertinent to the due process claim asserted in count II (not currently under consideration), it is not the correct inquiry for resolution of the statutory claim. The telegram is not binding, it is without the force of law. It may be characterized as purely advisory, a directive of the United States Department of Labor for a common sense approach to the eligibility question addressing areas of investigation which should have been pertinent to the administrative determination. Failure to comply with these directions, if proven, may well be evidence of the alleged due process violation, but that failure is not the proper basis for finding a statutory violation.¹ To adopt the plaintiffs' approach,...