Jeun v. Iowa Dept. of Job Service
| Citation | 411 N.W.2d 433 |
| Decision Date | 24 June 1987 |
| Docket Number | No. 86-294,86-294 |
| Parties | Young Jou JEUN, Petitioner-Appellant, v. IOWA DEPARTMENT OF JOB SERVICE, Respondent-Appellee. |
| Court | Court of Appeals of Iowa |
Linda S. Pettit of Pettit & Mann, Des Moines, for petitioner-appellant.
Walter F. Maley and Joseph L. Bervid of Iowa Dept. of Job Service for respondent-appellee.
Considered by OXBERGER, C.J., and DONIELSON and SNELL, JJ.
In this appeal, petitioner Young Jou Jeun challenges the district court's order affirming a decision entered by the Iowa Department of Job Service which disqualified him from further benefits and assessed an overpayment against him in the amount of $4,649.33. Jeun has raised two issues for appellate consideration. First, he contends that the department's finding that he was not in fact available for employment or totally unemployed during the time that he received compensation is not supported by the evidence in the record. In addition, Jeun argues that the department erroneously required him to prove that he was available for employment during this time. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.
Before addressing the above assignments of error, we find it necessary to set forth the following salient facts. In March of 1983, the petitioner was laid off from his employment as an instructor of Tae Kwon Do at Kim's Academy. He then filed an application for unemployment benefits with the Iowa Department of Job Service and began receiving compensation March 6, 1983. Jeun continued to list Kim's Academy as his last and only employer, and received unemployment benefits until they were exhausted in November of 1983.
In March of 1984, Jeun filed a renewed claim for benefits again using Kim's Academy as his last employer. His request for benefits was denied after a department claims deputy found that Jeun had failed to satisfy the requalification requirements of Iowa Code section 96.4(4). 1 In April of 1984, Jeun filed an additional claim for benefits in which he indicated that he had been employed by Joo Hyock, Inc. from March 7, 1984, until April 16, 1984. Jeun further indicated that he had earned $280 during this period. After an investigation, the department determined that Joo Hyock, Inc. was a covered employer and therefore concluded that the $280 Jeun had earned could be used for requalification purposes. Accordingly, on June 19, 1984, the claims deputy removed the disqualification and Jeun was allowed to collect benefits dating back to his original request for renewed compensation.
Throughout the period that Jeun collected compensation, he continued to list Kim's Academy as his last benefit year employer. In the Summer of 1984, Kim's Academy notified the department and objected to Jeun's continued receipt of benefits, asserting that Jeun had been employed at his own school of Tae Kwon Do for a considerable time. The department's fraud unit then began an investigation which revealed that Jeun had formed a school of instruction called Young Joe Jeun's Institute of Tae Kwon Do which was operated by Joo Hyock, Inc. The department further found that Jeun had been employed at his institute and earned deferred and concurrently paid wages since the Fall of 1983; Jeun had never reported these earnings on his weekly unemployment claim forms. As a result of its findings, the department concluded that Jeun was not eligible for further unemployment benefits because he was not "available for work ... and ... earnestly and actively seeking work" as required by Iowa Code section 96.4(3) (1983). Similarly, the department held that Jeun had misrepresented his status as being "totally unemployed" 2 while he collected previous benefits. The $4,649.33 overpayment was then assessed against him.
On appeal, Jeun argues that the record does not support the department's determination that he was not available for and actively seeking work or totally unemployed as required by Iowa Code sections 96.4(3) and 96.19(9)(a). Before reaching these arguments, we initially note that our scope of review in cases such as this, which arise out of the Iowa Administrative Procedure Act, is limited to a determination of whether the district court made errors of law when it exercised its power to review the department's decision. Gipson v. Iowa Dep't. of Job Service, 315 N.W.2d 834, 836 (Iowa App.1981). In order to make this determination, we apply the standards set forth in Iowa Code section 17A.19(8) to the agency's decision and then ascertain whether our conclusions are the same as the district court's. Jackson County Hospital v. Public Employment Relations Board, 280 N.W.2d 426, 429-30 (Iowa 1979).
When a claimant maintains that an agency's decision is unsupported by substantial evidence, it is incumbent upon us to review as a whole the evidence contained in the record made before the agency. Gipson, 315 N.W.2d at 836; Iowa Code § 17A.19(8)(f). Such evidence is "substantial" if a reasonable person would find it an adequate basis for the decision reached. City of Davenport v. Public Employment Relations Board, 264 N.W.2d 307, 311 (Iowa 1978).
We have reviewed the record in its entirety and conclude that it contains substantial evidence supporting the department's determinations. The department's investigation revealed that Jeun was the president of Joo Hyock, Inc. and had operated Jeun's Institute of Tae Kwon Do since the Fall of 1983. On November 3, 1983, the Des Moines Register printed a feature article concerning Jeun's institute. The article reported that the institute offered classes Monday through Saturday and that classes were also being taught at the Des Moines Area Community College and through the Des Moines Public School's Adult Education Program. In addition, the institute published a newspaper advertisement which stated that it was open from 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. each Saturday. The advertisement contained a picture of the petitioner and referred to him as the "master instructor."
Significantly, the minutes from various corporate meetings held by Joo Hyock, Inc. fully corroborate the above findings. In addition, at a meeting held February 3, 1983, the Board of Directors 3 of Joo Hyock, Inc. passed a resolution to pay Jeun $700 per month for his "overall management of the facility, including scheduling classes, publicity, accounting and the general direction of all related activities." The records from that meeting further indicate that the corporation agreed to pay Jeun $17 per hour for teaching classes, conducting demonstrations and testing. Moreover, the record indicates that Jeun's Institute had begun negotiations with a number of local organizations for instructions and demonstrations. Finally, the minutes of a meeting held June 24, 1984, reveal that Joo Hyock, Inc. was indebted to Jeun for over $17,000 for his services and for loans which he had incurred on behalf of the corporation. Joo Hyock, Inc. had been unable to compensate Jeun as these obligations became due because of financial problems.
Jeun argues that the above evidence is insufficient to support the department's findings because the precise number of hours that he actually worked at the institute is not clear, and because he was not paid regularly. We agree with the department and district court, however, in concluding that the evidence is sufficient to establish that Jeun devoted such an amount of time to render him essentially unavailable for other employment. Furthermore, we agree with the department's finding that the seminal inquiry is not whether Jeun had actually been paid during the period in question, but whether he had earned wages or fees that were payable. In this regard, we think that the department and district court properly utilized the rationale employed by the superior court of Pennsylvania in Muchant v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 175 Pa.Super. 85, 88, 103 A.2d 438, 440 (1954), where the court noted that:
... [T]he purpose of unemployment compensation is to provide temporary benefits for the worker who is unemployed through no fault of his own. It was not designed to insure a weekly income to those engaged in business ventures who may not realize a profit therefrom during various weekly periods. However, if it is established that the claimant is actually engaged in the conduct of such an enterprise, the fact that he realizes no present weekly profit from the business or the services rendered cannot operate to make him eligible for unemployment compensation benefits.
Jeun further attempts to assert that he was "employed" only during the period when he earned the $280 which permitted him to requalify for additional unemployment compensation; he maintains that during other periods, he aided Joo Hyock, Inc. as a volunteer. We fully concur with the district court's conclusion that such an assertion strains credulity. Moreover, we note that the hearing officer explicitly stated that the testimony of the corporation's secretary, Bill Smith, in this regard was not credible. At this juncture, we reiterate our well established adherence to the principle that, " 'it is the function of the...
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