Kansas City, Kan., Unified School Dist. No. 500 v. Womack
| Decision Date | 03 March 1995 |
| Docket Number | 71389,Nos. 71226,s. 71226 |
| Citation | 20 Kan.App.2d 608,890 P.2d 1233 |
| Parties | , 98 Ed. Law Rep. 443 KANSAS CITY, KANSAS, UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 500, Appellee, v. Audra K. WOMACK and Yolanda J. Stewart, Defendants, and Kansas Employment Security Board of Review, Appellant. KANSAS CITY, KANSAS, UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 500, Appellee, v. Mary K. BRYANT, Defendant, and Kansas Employment Security Board of Review, Appellant. |
| Court | Kansas Court of Appeals |
Syllabus by the Court
1. The ruling of an administrative agency on questions of law, while not conclusive, is nonetheless persuasive and is given weight, and may carry with it a strong presumption of correctness, especially if the agency is one of special competence and experience. However, the final construction of a statute rests with the courts.
2. Each substitute teaching assignment does not constitute a separate term of employment, and a substitute teacher is not deemed terminated or laid off at the conclusion of each assignment if there is a reasonable assurance the substitute will continue to be contacted for future assignments during the school year.
3. A substitute teacher is not unemployed as contemplated by the Kansas employment security law for days during the school year which he or she does not work when the teacher's name remains on the school district's list of approved substitute teachers and there is reasonable assurance he or she will be called to work during the school year. Under the facts of this case, because the claimants had reasonable assurance they would continue to be contacted for teaching assignments during the year and had no indication their names had been removed from the list of approved substitute teachers, they were not unemployed as contemplated by the Kansas employment security law.
James R. McEntire, Topeka, for appellant Kansas Employment Sec. Bd. of Review.
Before RULON, P.J., and BRAZIL and ROYSE, JJ.
The Kansas Employment Security Board of Review (KESB) appeals the district court's judgment that Kansas City, Kansas, Unified School District No. 500's (U.S.D. 500) experience rating account should not be charged because the claimants were not unemployed and, therefore, not eligible for unemployment benefits.
We must decide if the district court: (1) had jurisdiction to consider this matter and, (2) if the district court did have such jurisdiction, whether the court erred in reaching its judgment. We affirm.
Audra K. Womack, Yolanda J. Stewart, and Mary K. Bryant (claimants), were all employed by U.S.D. 500 on a part-time basis. Womack was employed as a substitute teacher; Stewart was a substitute paraprofessional; and Bryant was a substitute secretary, substitute teacher's aide, and substitute paraprofessional.
All three claimants filed applications for unemployment benefits. Subsequently, U.S.D. 500 was notified that its experience rating account could be charged for a portion of the claimants' unemployment benefits. U.S.D. 500 requested the examiner to reconsider the rating charges pursuant to K.S.A. 44-710(c)(2)(F)(iii). In all three cases the examiner issued "Reconsidered Base Period Employer Determination[s]," stating that the appropriate pro rata share of benefits paid would be charged to U.S.D. 500's rating account. Two of the determinations stated that the claimants' most recent employment with U.S.D. 500 was ended due to a reduction in work force and said the determinations were made pursuant to K.S.A. 44-710(c). The determination for Stewart found that each time she was called in to substitute was a separate period of employment and she was laid off due to lack of work. Her failure to accept a new assignment did not alter the reason for her separation from work.
U.S.D. 500 appealed the examiner's decisions pursuant to K.S.A. 44-709(b)(3) and K.S.A. 44-709(c). Hearings were held in all three cases, with one referee hearing the Stewart and Womack cases and another referee hearing the Bryant case. The referees noted that under Kansas law, benefits would not be charged to a base period employer's account if the claimant was discharged for misconduct connected with the claimant's work or if the claimant left work voluntarily without good cause attributable to the claimant's work or employer.
In the Stewart and Womack cases, the referee noted that substitute teachers are not qualified for benefits if the unemployment falls between two successive academic terms when the claimant performed services in the first term and had reasonable assurance that he or she would be employed for the second term. The referee found that Womack and Stewart had been temporarily laid off because no work was available and had "left work voluntarily with good cause attributable to the work and the employer." In the Bryant case, the referee ruled that because there was no evidence she was discharged for misconduct or left work voluntarily without good cause, the employer's account should be charged. The referees affirmed the examiners' decisions in all three cases.
U.S.D. 500 appealed the referees' decisions to KESB pursuant to K.S.A. 44-709(c). KESB affirmed the referees' decisions in all three cases.
U.S.D. 500 next appealed KESB's decisions to the district court pursuant to K.S.A. 44-709(i). In the Womack and Stewart cases, the court ruled that the agency had misinterpreted the law and U.S.D. 500's rating account should not be charged because the claimants were not unemployed at the time they sought benefits. In Bryant's case, the court found that U.S.D. 500's rating account should not be charged because Bryant was employed by an educational institution and was not entitled to benefits between terms since she had a reasonable assurance she would be employed by U.S.D. 500 the following term.
KESB then perfected this appeal.
KESB first argues the district court should not have decided whether the claimants were eligible for benefits because the only issue decided by the referees was whether U.S.D. 500's rating account should be charged for its pro rata share of any benefits paid to the claimants. U.S.D. 500 contends that if the claimants are not entitled to benefits, then the issue of whether U.S.D. 500's rating account should be charged is moot. Further, U.S.D. 500 argues that the referee discussed the claimant's eligibility to receive benefits in the Womack and Stewart cases and heard testimony concerning eligibility in the Bryant case. Consequently, U.S.D. 500 argues that the matter was properly before the referee and the district court, despite the referee's apparent attempt to limit the scope of review.
The record shows that U.S.D. 500, in response to the notification of potential charge, noted that the claimants had not been terminated and that work was available. The records of all three cases show that U.S.D. 500 presented testimony to the referees indicating the claimants were either still employed or had not left their employment because of lack of work for any reason associated with the school district. However, the referees limited the scope of their decision to whether U.S.D. 500's account should be charged.
In the Womack case, the referee's decision found there was work available to the claimant at the time she filed for benefits but concluded she had been separated from her employment due to a reduction in work force "when work was not continuously available during the school term." In the Stewart case, the referee found that the claimant was not offered continuous work but did receive offers for work on a sporadic basis. The referee further found that "although the claimant may be disqualified for benefits for refusing a suitable offer of employment the fundamental question is whether the claimant was unemployed through no fault of her own." Finally, in the Bryant case, the referee found that the claimant had not been discharged for misconduct and had not left work voluntarily; there was simply no work for her during the summer session.
Generally, a party cannot raise an issue to the district court which has not been raised at the administrative level unless the issue falls within the provisions of K.S.A. 77-617. See State ex rel. Smith v. Miller, 239 Kan. 187, 190, 718 P.2d 1298 (1986). However, the record indicates that while the referee sought to limit the scope of the decision, U.S.D. 500 did raise the issue and present evidence sufficient to justify review. Neither party cites any regulation, statute, or case law which would require the scope of the examiner's or the referee's decision to be limited to the question of whether the employer's experience rating account should be charged. Consequently, we conclude we have jurisdiction to determine this cause on the merits.
Next, we must decide if the district court erred in finding U.S.D. 500's account should not be charged for the pro rata share of the claimants' unemployment benefits.
Because the resolution of this issue involves the interpretation of Kansas employment security law, a review of the relevant statutory framework is helpful.
K.S.A. 44-702 reads in relevant part:
K.S.A. 44-705 reads in relevant part:
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