Riddel v. Department of Employment Sec.
| Decision Date | 01 September 1981 |
| Docket Number | No. 463-79,463-79 |
| Court | Vermont Supreme Court |
| Parties | , 1 Ed. Law Rep. 305 Elise RIDDEL, et al. v. DEPARTMENT OF EMPLOYMENT SECURITY. |
James S. Suskin, Montpelier, and Gary H. Barnes, South Burlington, Michael S. Finch, and George T. Faris, IV, St. Johnsbury, Downs, Rachlin & Martin, South Burlington, for plaintiffs.
Matthew R. Gould, Montpelier, for defendant.
Before BARNEY, C.J., and LARROW, BILLINGS, HILL and UNDERWOOD, JJ.
The claimants had been employed as teachers' aides by the Barre City School System during the academic year 1978-79. At the close of the academic year, they each applied for unemployment benefits for the period between the end of the academic year 1978-79 and the beginning of the academic year 1979-80. Each claim was denied on the ground that the claimants were performing services in an instructional capacity for an educational institution, with reasonable assurance of being rehired in the upcoming academic year. They were therefore found to be ineligible for benefits pursuant to 21 V.S.A. § 1343(d).
The claimants limit their appeal to two issues. They contend that because they were paraprofessional teachers' aides, the activities they performed for the Barre City School System did not constitute services in an instructional capacity within the meaning of 21 V.S.A. § 1343(d). They further argue that the Board's interpretation of 21 V.S.A. § 1343(d) denied them equal protection within the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Chapter I, Article 7 of the Vermont Constitution.
Since the claimants' eligibility for unemployment benefits hinges upon the services they actually performed, rather than the title or description of their jobs, a close examination of the facts is important.
All of the claimants, as teachers' aides, were classified as certified paraprofessionals by the Vermont Department of Education when they were hired by the Barre City School System for the academic year 1978-79. They were hired to assist certified professional teachers, and to work directly under their supervision.
Teachers' aides worked a six and one-half hour day for which they were paid between.$2.80 and $3.65 per hour. They received no paid vacations, holidays, or health insurance benefits. Although each aide's duties varied slightly from those of the others, ten of the fifteen claimants spent over half of their time working directly with students. Primarily, their duties involved administration and correction of tests, tutoring of students in mathematics, reading and other subjects, and working with students through the use of films, tapes and work books.
Aides were not permitted to prepare instructional programs, or to supervise homerooms, lunch periods, or study halls. These duties were reserved exclusively for the professional teachers. Aides were not directly responsible for the preparation of student evaluations either, although some assisted the supervising teacher in the preparation of such evaluations. Some attended conferences between parents, students and teachers.
By the letter dated June 6, 1979, the claimants were advised that positions as tutorial aides in the Barre City School System would be available to them for the academic year 1979-80. The letter indicated that such aides would be paid according to the master agreement entered into between the school board and the Barre City Schools Educational Support Personnel Association, of which the claimants were members.
The pertinent provisions of 21 V.S.A. § 1343(d) provide as follows:
(W)ith respect to service performed after December 31, 1977, in an instructional, research, or principal administrative capacity for an educational institution, benefits shall not be paid on such services for any week of unemployment commencing during the period between two successive academic years ... to any individual if such individual performs such services in the first of such academic years ... and if there is a contract or a reasonable assurance that such individual will perform services in any such capacity for any educational institution in the second of such academic years ....
The claimants concede that each had a contract, or reasonable assurance of similar employment, with the Barre City School System for the academic year 1979-80. They therefore waive their appeal as to that issue.
We must first determine from the facts whether the claimants were performing services in an instructional capacity for the Barre City School System during the academic year 1978-79. Unfortunately, the Vermont Unemployment Compensation Act (the Act) (21 V.S.A. §§ 1301-1426) does not define the phrase "instructional capacity," and the legislative history of the enactment of 21 V.S.A. § 1343(d) gives us no clue as to the legislative intent.
If the claimants are exempt from the provisions of 21 V.S.A. § 1343(d), then they are entitled to benefits for the summer recess period, as are school bus drivers, cafeteria attendants, crossing guards, etc. 21 V.S.A. § 1301(6)(A) (ix). As a general proposition, the underlying purpose of the Act is to alleviate the economic disability and distress which results from involuntary unemployment. No person, therefore, should be excluded from its benefits unless the Act itself, in so many words, has demonstrated an intent to create such an exclusion. In re Hatch, 130 Vt. 248, 257, 290 A.2d 180, 185-86 (1972).
The claimants, however, are entitled to benefits only if the legislature did not intend that they be lumped together with professional teachers, who are concededly performing services in an instructional capacity for an educational institution, within the meaning of 21 V.S.A. § 1343(d).
The phrase "instructional capacity" is not an ambiguous one. It means, "in the role of a teacher." Where the meaning of a statute is plain and unambiguous, there is no necessity for construction, and the statute must be enforced according to its terms. Quero v. Vermont State Tax Department, 131 Vt. 326, 328, 306 A.2d 684, 686 (1973). Every fact brought out below supports the contention that the claimants, as teachers' aides, were performing services in the role of teachers for the Barre City School System.
Even the Vermont Department of Education recognizes that teachers' aides operate essentially as teachers, that is, in an instructional capacity. Paragraph VII of its State Board Policy for Certification provides as follows:
Educational personnel in the public schools hired to assist professionally certified personnel in the teaching-learning process shall be certified as professionals by the State Department of Education
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As the more common term 'aides' implies,...
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