Efkamp v. Iowa Dept. of Job Service

• Decision Date: 19 March 1986
• Docket Number: No. 85-754,85-754
• Citation: 383 N.W.2d 566
• Parties: Ronald EFKAMP, Appellant, v. IOWA DEPARTMENT OF JOB SERVICE, Appellee.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 566

383 N.W.2d 566

Ronald EFKAMP, Appellant, v. IOWA DEPARTMENT OF JOB SERVICE, Appellee.

No. 85-754.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

March 19, 1986.

Rehearing Denied April 18, 1986.

Jack Kegel, Des Moines, for appellant.

Walter F. Maley, Blair H. Dewey, and Joseph L. Bervid, Des Moines, for appellee.

Considered by HARRIS, P.J., and LARSON, SCHULTZ, CARTER, and WOLLE, JJ.

HARRIS, Justice.

This dispute concerns a worker's entitlement to unemployment compensation. He resigned rather than accepting the reduced pay which was negotiated under a collective bargaining agreement. The hearing officer denied benefits. The trial court agreed and so do we.

Efkamp (the petitioner) was employed by Oscar Mayer, a meat processing plant in Perry, Iowa, from September 4, 1963 until May 27, 1983, eventually earning $10.89 per hour in the boning department. The evidence suggests at least three different reasons for Efkamp's resignation from his job. We can and should ignore the others however because the hearing officer's findings were supported by the record made before the agency when that record is viewed as a whole. See Taylor v. Iowa Department of Job Service, 362 N.W.2d 534, 537 (Iowa 1985).

Because Oscar Mayer was experiencing economic problems the company and the union renegotiated their collective bargaining agreement in order for the plant to continue to operate. Under the new agreement Efkamp's wages were reduced to $8.00 per hour. Rather than accept this amount he quit.

The hearing officer (reversing a claims deputy's decision) concluded Efkamp had voluntarily terminated his employment without good cause attributable to his employer. His decision, later adopted in full by a majority of the Job Service Appeal Board, stated:

A voluntary termination of employment because of a substantial change in the contract of hire by the employer is with good cause attributable to the employer, and the claimant would be entitled to receive unemployment insurance benefits. In the matter under review, however, the claimant accepted his employment with Oscar Mayer conditioned upon his representation by the union and abiding by the collective bargaining agreement. Notwithstanding the wage of the claimant was to be reduced in excess of $2.00 per hour and the job description of the claimant was changed, there was no substantial change in the contract of hire by the employer, as a condition of the claimant's employment was that he be represented by the union and abide by the terms of the collective bargaining agreement. The union and management agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement, which claimant refused to accept. As abiding by the collective bargaining agreement was a condition of the claimant's employment, claimant has failed to establish he had good cause to voluntarily terminate his employment.

On judicial review the district court affirmed, emphasizing that the " 'causes' being alleged were not attributable to the employer" because of the collective bargaining agreement. This appeal followed. See Iowa Code § 17A.20 (1985).

I. A worker is disqualified for unemployment compensation benefits "[i]f the individual has left work voluntarily without good cause attributable to the individual's employer, if so found by the department." Iowa Code § 96.5(1) (1985). On the other hand a worker is deemed to have left employment with good cause (and hence is not disqualified) if the resignation results from a substantial change in the contract of hire. 370 Iowa Admin.Code § 4.26(1). Section 4.26 provides that any such change "must be substantial in nature and could involve changes in working hours, shifts, remuneration, location of employment, drastic modification in type of work, etc." Efkamp contends the cut in his hourly wages ¹ constituted a substantial change in his contract of hire.

We have several times construed the phrase "good cause attributable to the employer." See, e.g., Gatewood v. Iowa Iron & Metal Co., 251 Iowa 639, 645, 102 N.W.2d 146, 150 (1960) (good cause for voluntarily terminating employment must involve some fault of employer); Raffety v. Iowa Employment Security Commission, 247 Iowa 896, 899-900, 76 N.W.2d 787, 789 (1956) ("[W]here factors or circumstances directly connected with employment result in illness or disease to an employee and make it impossible for him to continue therein because of serious danger to his health, termination of employment for this reason must correctly be said to be involuntary and for 'good cause attributable to the employer,' even though the employer be free from all negligence or wrong doing in connection therewith."); Moulton v. Iowa Employment Security Commission, 239 Iowa 1161, 1171, 34 N.W.2d 211, 216 (1948) (good cause for voluntarily quitting must be connected with employment, if quit is for personal reasons it is voluntary, disqualifying worker from benefits); see generally Johnson & McSweeney, Unemployment Compensation in Iowa: A Primer For Practitioners, 32 Drake L.Rev. 575, 672-73 (1983).

Although not controlling of the question, we have twice considered collective bargaining agreements in determining whether a voluntary quit is with good cause attributable to the employer. See Maschino v. George A. Hormel & Co., 372 N.W.2d 256, 260 (Iowa 1985) (upon plant closing employees who exercised collective bargaining agreement options to transfer to other plants on trial basis and then returned to former plant where they were laid off were not disqualified from receiving benefits); Walles v. Iowa Employment Security Commission, 219 N.W.2d 539, 542-43 (Iowa 1974) (where union would not permit claimant to work because he failed to pay union dues, union's actions could not be attributed to employer because it did not require employees to join union and did not employ only union members; claimant therefore disqualified from receiving benefits).

Efkamp cites cases from other jurisdictions which have stated that a claimant's eligibility for benefits should be controlled by the "factual matrix at the time of separation" and not by the collective bargaining agreement. Warner Co. v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 396 Pa. 545, 551, 153 A.2d 906, 909 (1959); see also Lehigh County Community College v....