Richardson v. Freund and Co.

• Decision Date: 07 April 1988
• Docket Number: 87CA1156,87CA1155
• Citation: Richardson v. Freund and Co., 755 P.2d 1 (Colo. App. 1988)
• Parties: James N. RICHARDSON, Petitioner, v. FREUND AND COMPANY, Total Plumbing, Inc., and The Industrial Claim Appeals Office of the State of Colorado, Respondents. . I
• Court: Colorado Court of Appeals

Page 1

755 P.2d 1

James N. RICHARDSON, Petitioner, v. FREUND AND COMPANY, Total Plumbing, Inc., and The Industrial Claim Appeals Office of the State of Colorado, Respondents.

Nos. 87CA1155, 87CA1156.

Colorado Court of Appeals Div. I.

April 7, 1988.

William E. Benjamin, Denver, for petitioner.

Duane Woodard, Atty. Gen., Charles B. Howe, Chief Deputy Atty. Gen., Richard H. Forman, Sol. Gen., Aurora Ruiz-Hernandez, Asst. Atty. Gen., Denver, for respondent Indus. Claim Appeals Office.

No appearance for respondents Freund and Co. or Total Plumbing, Inc.

HUME, Judge.

Claimant, James N. Richardson, seeks review of two decisions of the Industrial Claim Appeals Office (Panel) which affirmed the referee's rulings denying his request for waiver of payment of transcript costs. Claimant sought the waivers to enable him to appeal two earlier rulings which had denied his claims for unemployment compensation. We set aside the orders.

A request for waiver of transcript fees in connection with an administrative appeal under the Colorado Employment Security Act requires a determination whether the claimant would suffer undue financial hardship by being required to pay the fees. Unemployment Compensation Commission Regulation 11.2.15.4, 7 Code Colo.Reg. 1101-2 at 36:01. That regulation provides that, in determining the issue of undue hardship, the referee may consider:

"any relevant factors ... including ... the party's income and available money and his existing expenses; the approximate cost of the transcript; and whether payment of this cost would deprive the party or his family of basic necessities."

To aid in gathering information required by the regulation, the Division of Employment and Training (Division) has devised a form to be completed by parties requesting waiver.

The "Request for Waiver" form designed and used by the Division seeks financial information which is pertinent under the regulation, but then mixes that information in a manner that may distort an applicant's financial statement rather than clarifying it. For example, the form asks the applicant for cash flow entries such as "money received to date" and "money expected before the end of the month" and directs that these sums be added to balance sheet entries such as "checking and savings account balances" and "other available cash." Thus, an applicant who had received $500 prior to completing the form, and had deposited that sum in his checking account, might erroneously appear to have $1,000 "total money available" by accurately completing the form.

Similarly, the form elicits monthly expense figures for food, clothing, housing, utilities, transportation, loan payments and miscellaneous, but fails to ask whether these amounts are owing, or have been paid. The applicant who has $500 in hand after having paid his monthly living expenses is in a different financial condition than one who has $500 which must be applied against outstanding living expenses, but the form does not elicit this kind of qualitative information.

The record reveals that the sole basis for determining claimant's eligibility was a review by the referee of the information provided...