DaSilva v. Administrator, Unemployment Compensation Act

• Decision Date: 01 August 1978
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: Rosalie DaSILVA v. ADMINISTRATOR, UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION ACT, et al.

Page 755

402 A.2d 755

175 Conn. 562

Rosalie DaSILVA v. ADMINISTRATOR, UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION ACT, et al.

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued June 7, 1978.

Decision Released Aug. 1, 1978.

Richard J. Diviney, Westport, with whom, on brief, were Stanley P. Atwood and Frederic S. Ury, Westport, for appellant (defendant Westport board of education).

Donald E. Wasik, Asst. Atty. Gen., with whom, on brief, was Carl R. Ajello, Atty. Gen., for appellee (named defendant).

Before COTTER, C. J., and LOISELLE, BOGDANSKI, LONGO and PETERS, JJ.

COTTER, Chief Justice.

The plaintiff was employed as a certified teacher by the defendant Norwalk board of education in a bilingual education program from January 27, 1975, until June 30, 1975, when her employment was terminated due to a lack of funds for the continuation of that program. She subsequently applied for, and received, unemployment compensation benefits from June 29, 1975, to September 6, 1975. Upon an appeal to an appeals referee by the Westport board of education, the plaintiff's chargeable employer, the award of the administrator was reversed and the plaintiff was declared liable for refund of the amounts received during that period. A board of review affirmed the decision of the referee, and the plaintiff appealed to the Superior Court. Concluding that the appeals referee and the board of review acted unreasonably, arbitrarily and illegally, the court reversed the board of review and sustained the plaintiff's appeal. The defendant Westport board of education has appealed to this court from that judgment.

General Statutes § 31-249b permits an appeal from the decision of the employment security board of review; but the court does not try the matter de novo. Guevara v. Administrator, 172 Conn. 492, 495, 374 A.2d 1101. It is bound by the findings of subordinate facts and reasonable factual conclusions made by the appeals referee where, as here, the board of review adopted the findings and affirmed the decision of the referee. Howell v. Administrator, 174 Conn. 529, 533, 391 A.2d 165; Bartlett v. Administrator, 142 Conn. 497, 505, 115 A.2d 671. Conclusions of law reached by the referee cannot stand, however, if the court determines that they resulted from an incorrect application of the law to the facts found or could not reasonably and logically follow from such facts. Although the court may not substitute its own conclusions for those of the referee, the court's ultimate duty is to decide whether the referee acted unreasonably, arbitrarily or illegally. Guevara v. Administrator, supra.

The trial court's finding of facts which incorporated the appeals referee's finding, may be summarized as follows: During the period in which the plaintiff received unemployment compensation benefits, her efforts to obtain further employment consisted almost entirely of making contact with area boards of education and the University of Bridgeport in an attempt to obtain another teaching position. ¹ ] Although she acknowledged that the prospects of obtaining employment as a teacher during the summer months were "extremely limited," the plaintiff made no significant effort to obtain any other type of employment during that period. She did, however, eventually succeed in obtaining employment as a teacher in the Norwalk adult education program commencing on September 8, 1975.

In view of the "extremely limited" prospects of obtaining employment as a teacher during the summer months, the referee concluded that the evidence did not support a determination that the plaintiff was available for work and making reasonable efforts to obtain work. Since those conditions are prerequisites to a claimant's eligibility for benefits under the provisions of § 31-235(2) of the General Statutes, the award of the administrator was reversed.

The defendant board of education's appeal to this court from the trial court's reversal of the determination that the plaintiff had not satisfied the statutory eligibility requirements, therefore, presents to us the question of whether the action taken by the referee and affirmed by the board of review was unreasonable, arbitrary or illegal.

As noted previously, § 31-235(2) of the General Statutes provides that an unemployed person shall be eligible to receive benefits only if it has been found that "he is physically and mentally able to work and is available for work and has been and is making reasonable efforts to obtain work." To be available for work within the meaning of the statute, one must be ready, willing and able to accept suitable employment and must be exposed unequivocally to the labor market. Howell v. Administrator, supra; Dubkowski v. Administrator, 150 Conn. 278, 280, 188 A.2d 658; Leclerc v. Administrator, 137 Conn. 438, 439, 78 A.2d 550. While the test of availability is subjective; Stapleton v. Administrator, 142 Conn. 160, 164, 112 A.2d 211; it is well established that a claimant who limits his or her availability for work because of personal reasons unrelated to the employment is not entitled to compensation. Northup v. Administrator, 148 Conn. 475, 478, 172 A.2d 390; Leclerc v. Administrator, supra, 441.

The principal claim of the defendant board of education in the present appeal is that the court erred by interfering with the referee's conclusion that, due to the limited prospects of obtaining a job in the specific labor market in which the plaintiff sought employment (e. g., summer school teacher) she was neither "available for work" nor "making reasonable efforts to obtain work" as required by statute. Although the unemployment compensation act was never intended to guarantee anyone a job identical in all respects with that which he or she had previously held; Leclerc v. Administrator, supra, 137 Conn. 440, 78 A.2d 550; "(t)he mere fact that a person places certain restrictions on the type of work he is willing to accept does not, in itself, make him unavailable for work within the intent and meaning of § 31-235." Dubkowski v. Administrator, supra, 150 Conn. 281, 188 A.2d 660. It is only when those restrictions imposed by the claimant reduce the prospects of employment to such an extent that it can no longer reasonably be said a person is genuinely exposed to the labor market that he or she will be deemed unavailable for work. Ibid.; Northup v. Administrator, supra, 148 Conn. 477, 172 A.2d 390; Freeman, "Able to Work and Available for Work," 55 Yale L.J. 123, 126.

In the present case, the referee found that, during the period in which she received compensation, the...