Harmon v. Unemployment Comp. Bd. of Review

• Decision Date: 26 April 2019
• Docket Number: No. 37 EAP 2017,37 EAP 2017
• Citation: 207 A.3d 292
• Parties: Daniel HARMON, Appellant v. UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION BOARD OF REVIEW, Appellee
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

207 A.3d 292

Daniel HARMON, Appellant

v.UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION BOARD OF REVIEW, Appellee

No. 37 EAP 2017

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued: September 25, 2018

Decided: April 26, 2019

OPINION

JUSTICE DOUGHERTY

I. Background

We granted discretionary review to determine whether the Commonwealth Court erred in holding appellant Daniel Harmon was disqualified from receiving unemployment compensation benefits pursuant to Section 402.6 of the Unemployment Compensation Law (the Law), 43 P.S. § 802.6(a) ("[a]n employe shall not be eligible for payment of unemployment compensation benefits for any weeks of unemployment during which the employe is incarcerated after a conviction"). We hold appellant, who was serving a sentence of incarceration on weekends only, was not disqualified from receiving unemployment compensation benefits, and we therefore reverse the order of the Commonwealth Court.

Appellant was a part-time employee at Brown's Shop Rite beginning on February 14, 2013. N.T. 9/24/14 at 4. On December 18, 2013, he was convicted of driving with a suspended license¹ and sentenced to a term of 60 days' imprisonment to be served on 30 consecutive weekends, beginning on March 14, 2014 and ending on August 7, 2014. Id. at 7-8. Appellant's employment with Brown's Shop Rite was terminated on March 24, 2014 due to a violation of company policy, which was unrelated to his incarceration. Id. at 4. He then filed for benefits and received them for the week ending March 29, 2014 through the week ending July 26, 2014. Id. at 7. This period included weeks when appellant was serving his sentence of weekend incarceration.

On August 8, 2014 (after appellant had completed serving his sentence), Andrea Quirk, an Unemployment Compensation Claims Examiner from the Erie Unemployment Compensation Service Center (Service Center), conducted an investigation based on information received from "the cross match system" to determine whether appellant was incarcerated due to a conviction in the Philadelphia County Prison System when he was receiving benefits. Id. at 1, 6. Ms. Quirk did so because Section 402.6(a) of the Law provides "[a]n employe shall not be eligible for payment of unemployment compensation benefits for any weeks of unemployment during which the employe is incarcerated after a conviction." Id. at 7; 43 P.S. § 802.6(a). Upon Ms. Quirk's determination appellant had received benefits in weeks "during which" he was incarcerated, appellant was ordered to refund the $ 2,925.00 in benefits he had received. It was also determined appellant's failure to disclose his incarceration himself resulted in fault overpayment under Section 804(a) of the Law, 43 P.S. § 874(a), such that he was assessed a penalty of $ 483.75 and disqualified from receiving benefits for an additional 17 penalty weeks.² Id.

On appeal, Unemployment Compensation Referee Debbie Wallace held a hearing on September 24, 2014. Id. at 1. Ms. Quirk testified appellant received an Unemployment Compensation Handbook which clearly states a claimant is ineligible for benefits for weeks during which he is incarcerated due to a conviction, and appellant's failure to disclose his incarceration amounted to knowingly withholding information. Id. at 9. Appellant testified he had not read the entire Handbook. Moreover, he testified that while serving his sentence he would report to the prison at 5:00 p.m. on Friday evenings and was released every Sunday at 3:00 p.m., and therefore was available to work on weekdays, so he did not knowingly withhold information from Unemployment Compensation authorities. Id. at 5-6. After the hearing, Referee Wallace issued a decision affirming the Service Center's determination, ruling "Section 402.6 of the Law makes the [appellant] ineligible for benefits due to his conviction and incarceration during the weeks at issue in this appeal." Referee's Decision, 9/26/14 at 2.

On further appeal to the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review (Board), appellant argued his weekend confinement did not render him ineligible for benefits under Section 402.6 because his incarceration was not continuous and he continued to be available for work despite that incarceration. The Board nevertheless agreed with the lower tribunals that appellant was disqualified from receiving benefits. The Board relied on Kroh v. UCBR , 711 A.2d 1093 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1998) (claimant disqualified under Section 402.6 for weeks he was incarcerated but eligible for work release), and further held Kroh was not undermined by the Commonwealth Court's more recent decision in Chamberlain v. UCBR , 83 A.3d 283 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2014) ( Chamberlain I ) (claimants sentenced to house arrest not disqualified under Section 402.6). Board Decision, 4/15/15 at 1-2.³

Appellant then filed an appeal with the Commonwealth Court, arguing Section 402.6 does not bar his recovery of benefits. Appellant primarily claimed the statute was unambiguous and does not disqualify claimants who are incarcerated only on weekends, and who are therefore not incarcerated "during" the entire week. Appellant's Commonwealth Court Brief at 10-13. Alternatively, appellant argued any ambiguity should be resolved in his favor as Section 402.6 was enacted solely to prohibit incarcerated individuals who are eligible for work release from improperly receiving benefits and, as such, the statute does not "clearly and plainly exclude" him from receiving benefits. Id. at 13-14, 17-19. Appellant additionally argued the Board's interpretation of Section 402.6 was inconsistent with one of the purposes behind his sentence of weekend confinement — to "work and search for work ." Id. at 16 (emphasis in original), citing 42 Pa.C.S. § 9755(c).

In response, the Board argued "during" has dual definitions and it was "entirely reasonable from a language standpoint for the Board to disqualify a claimant for being incarcerated for two days during a week[.]" Board's Commonwealth Court Brief at 10 (emphasis added). The Board contended appellant's "attempt to qualify the applicability of Section 402.6 with a durational requirement ... [went] beyond the plain language of the statute and of the legislative history, and the case law interpreting it." Id. at 16-17. Additionally, the Board argued Chamberlain v. UCBR , 631 Pa. 489, 114 A.3d 385 (2015) ( Chamberlain II ), determined "the type of confinement [ ] controlled the application of the disqualifying provision" and did not mention a durational requirement. Id. at 19.

A divided Commonwealth Court, sitting en banc , affirmed in a published opinion.⁴ Harmon v. UCBR , 163 A.3d 1057 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2017). The majority first held the word "during" in Section 402.6 is ambiguous as it can either mean " ‘throughout the duration of,’ " which would require a claimant to be incarcerated for an entire week to be ineligible for benefits, or " ‘at a point in the course of[,]’ " which would require only that a claimant be incarcerated at some point in a claim week. Id. at 1061, quoting MERRIAM WEBSTER'S COLLEGIATE DICTIONARY 360 (10th ed. 1997). The majority noted the Board relied on the definition of "during" that would bar a claimant's recovery as long as he is incarcerated at some point in a claim week, and as the Board was the agency charged with administering the statute, its interpretation must be given deference. Id. at 1061-62, citing Summit School, Inc. v. Dep't of Education , 108 A.3d 192, 198 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2015) (administrative agency's interpretation of statute given deference unless clearly erroneous).

The majority then opined Chamberlain II , where this Court held claimants sentenced to house arrest were not barred from receiving benefits under Section 402.6, did not mandate a different result. The majority noted "[t]he principles developed in Chamberlain [II ]... demonstrate that the applicability of Section 402.6 of the Law depends upon whether a claimant was incarcerated within the meaning of the Law" and there was no dispute here that appellant was incarcerated, unlike individuals on house arrest. Id. at 1063-64. The majority observed appellant's sentence was "different from the sentence of home confinement at issue in Chamberlain [II ], because [appellant] was confined, at least part of the week, in a correctional facility at the expense of taxpayers." Id. at 1064. As such, the majority held appellant's sentence was "similar to that of claimants participating in work release programs, which the General Assembly clearly intended to preclude from receiving benefits when it enacted Section 402.6 of the Law." Id.

The majority also rejected appellant's argument the Board's interpretation of Section 402.6 was overly punitive and in contravention of the remedial purpose of the Law. Id. at 1064. The majority concluded appellant was unequivocally excluded by the plain language of Section 402.6 due to his incarceration, no matter the extent of his confinement. Id. Finally, the majority held the Board's interpretation of Section 402.6 as "creat[ing] a collateral civil consequence to incarceration" was reasonable and not clearly erroneous and appellant's arguments "in support of an alternative construction ... [were] not sufficiently compelling to override the deference afforded to the Board." Id. at 1066.

In dissent, President Judge Leavitt agreed the word "during" was ambiguous, but stated she would have resolved such ambiguity in favor of appellant which is more consistent with the remedial nature of the Law and the narrow construction of its disqualification provisions. Id. at 1067, 1069 (Leavitt, P.J., dissenting). President Judge Leavitt also stated it was inappropriate for the majority to accord deference to the Board's interpretation because its decision "did not address the meaning of the word ‘during[,]’ " but instead "focused solely on the word ‘incarcerated.’ " Id. at 1069. Furthermore, President Judge Leavitt disagreed with the majority's "supposition that [appellant] was in a ‘work release’ program" as he was not...