Davis v. Board of Review of Dept. of Labor

• Decision Date: 14 June 1984
• Docket Number: No. 83-1436,83-1436
• Citation: Davis v. Board of Review of Dept. of Labor, 465 N.E.2d 576, 125 Ill.App.3d 67, 80 Ill.Dec. 464 (Ill. App. 1984)
• Parties: , 80 Ill.Dec. 464 Marilyn DAVIS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. The BOARD OF REVIEW OF the DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, et al., Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: Appellate Court of Illinois

Page 576

465 N.E.2d 576

125 Ill.App.3d 67, 80 Ill.Dec. 464

Marilyn DAVIS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. The BOARD OF REVIEW OF the DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, et al Defendants-Appellants.

No. 83-1436.

Appellate Court of Illinois First District, Fourth Division.

June 14, 1984.

Neil F. Hartigan, Atty. Gen., Chicago (Leslie J. Rosen, Chicago, of counsel), for defendants-appellants.

Mary Kennedy, Louis P. Svendsen, Chicago, for plaintiff-appellee.

LINN, Presiding Justice:

Plaintiff brought this action seeking administrative review of a final decision by defendant, the Illinois Department of Labor Board of Review, that she was ineligible for unemployment benefits because she left her employment voluntarily without good cause attributable to her employer. Defendant appeals from the circuit court's order reversing its decision, contending that the evidence amply supported its finding and decision. Plaintiff contends the appeal is moot because plaintiff's benefits have been paid to her, and there are no statutory means for recoupment.

On April 2, 1982, plaintiff left her employment with The Southern School (School), and on April 4, 1982, applied for unemployment insurance benefits. On April 20, 1982, Jerry Rothman, executive director of the School, wrote to the Department of Labor suggesting that plaintiff was not eligible for benefits because she had voluntarily left her employment, the School did not ask her to leave and no consideration was given to terminate her. The record also contains a letter of resignation from plaintiff to Rothman dated January 25, 1982.

Plaintiff's claim for unemployment insurance benefits was denied by the Department of Labor claims adjudicator who found that on April 2, 1982, plaintiff voluntarily left work without good cause attributable to her employer. Plaintiff took an administrative appeal to a referee, who, following an evidentiary hearing, found that plaintiff was hired to set up preschooling on October 3, 1978, for three to five-year-old children but that by September 1981 most of the funding had been cut off and she was required to work in a fully-funded program for the emotionally disturbed. By the end of the year she was working completely with the emotionally disturbed. The record shows that by January 25, 1982, plaintiff had found the work extremely stressful, and she was not getting any help. Further, she was not trained or qualified to handle these children, and as a result, she resigned, effective April 2, 1982. The referee made the following conclusion, which was later affirmed.

"Sometime, in 1981, the Claimant [plaintiff], by having done the work so long, had accepted its conditions, so that when she left, she departed for reasons other than those connected with the employment. There was no medical evidence that she was physically unable to perform her work and was, therefore, not exempt from the disqualification provisions of Section 601A of the Act."

Plaintiff, the only witness at the administrative hearing, testified that on October 3, 1978, she was hired by the School as a child development coordinator to set up a preschool program for normal children. Her duties were primarily administrative and consisted of hiring and supervising the teachers, working with parents and recruiting children. She possessed an undergraduate degree in working with mentally retarded children, and a masters degree in early childhood education. She was required to incorporate the emotionally disturbed teen-agers from an agency (apparently a community mental health agency to which the School was administratively connected) into the program for normal preschoolers, children aged three to five years old. When she started work, she advised her employer that she had no experience with emotionally disturbed children.

From September of 1980 until September of 1981, funding for the preschool program was diminishing, and in addition to her administrative duties she was required to serve the seriously disturbed children whom the School first began to accept during this period. Plaintiff explained that emotionally disturbed children presented behavior disorders involving aggressive and destructive behavior, but mentally retarded children did not. She also maintained that she was not trained, qualified, or experienced in teaching emotionally disturbed children. But when she explained that she did not feel qualified to teach such children and asked for assistance, she received none.

In addition to her new duties she was also required to supervise a student teacher even though she had asked for a trained professional to help her in the classroom. As a result of her increased duties, she was required to work late and, occasionally, on Saturdays to keep up with her duties. When another director was hired, she found herself reporting to two supervisors with no means of resolving conflicts between them. She asked for a change of supervisors without results. She developed headaches and became very upset. A professional psychotherapist, who was not a physician, advised her the job was causing her stress that would continue as long as she remained employed in her position. She explained this to her supervisor, but he offered no assistance. On January 25, 1982, she gave ten weeks written notice to her employer.

In reversing the administrative decision the circuit court found that the work was stressful and that plaintiff had good cause to resign when she was required to teach emotionally disturbed children for which she was not qualified.

Plaintiff initially contends that the issue of plaintiff's entitlement to unemployment insurance benefits is rendered moot by the payment of benefits to plaintiff with no recourse available to defendant to recoup the money paid. Plaintiff's argument is based upon her reading of section 900 of the Act (Ill.Rev.Stat.1983, ch. 48, par. 490), which, plaintiff argues, does not allow defendant to recoup benefits paid to plaintiff even if this court should decide that the circuit court was in error in reversing the administrative decision. While section 900, dealing specifically with recoupment, speaks of repayment of benefits only when there has been a reconsidered finding or reconsidered determination made by either a claims adjudicator or a referee, it is argued that section 900 should be read in conjunction with section 706 (Ill.Rev.Stat.1983, ch. 48, par. 456) which requires prompt payment of benefits and provides that if benefits are paid pursuant to a decision subsequently overturned, the "employer's benefit wages" under section 1502 (Ill.Rev.Stat.1983, ch. 48, par. 572) shall be computed as if such had been the finding or determination of the claims adjudicator. Plaintiff concedes that a decision of this court on the issue of the propriety of the trial court's actions concerning benefits paid to her would have an effect under section 706 and 1502 of the Act, on the employer, but argues the issue is moot since the employer is not a party to this appeal.

An appeal may be rendered moot where a party accepts the judgment and complies with it as in the recent case of Madison Park Bank v. Zagel (1982), 91 Ill.2d 231, 62 Ill.Dec. 950, 437 N.E.2d 638. There, a taxpayer did not challenge an appellate court decision and paid the taxes due after the supreme court had granted leave to appeal. However, where a party does not accept a judgment against him, the cause is not moot simply because he pays the judgment even if no restitution could follow reversal since an erroneous judgment is an injury per se from which the law will intend he is or will be damnified by its continuing unreversed. Beacon Home Equipment Co., Inc. v. Paulsen (1951), 343 Ill.App. 468, 470, 99 N.E.2d 586.

Defendant maintains that the employer reasonably modified the employee's tasks and reasonably assigned her additional duties, due to economic considerations involving the change in funding. However, section 601 (Ill.Rev.Stat.1983, ch. 48, par. 431) does not require that the employer's actions be unreasonable before the employee is eligible for benefits, but focuses, instead, upon the issue of "good cause attributable to the employing unit." The statute does not require that the employer be at fault, but is designed to remedy the economic difficulties following from involuntary unemployment generally.

With regard to the issue of "good cause," the defendant argues that plaintiff proved only ...