Schultz v. Division of Employment Security

• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals
• Writing for the Court: Robert G. Dowd, Jr.
• Citation: Schultz v. Division of Employment Security, 293 S.W.3d 454 (Mo. App. 2008)
• Decision Date: 08 July 2008
• Docket Number: No. ED 90340.,ED 90340.
• Parties: Thomas SCHULTZ, Appellant, v. DIVISION OF EMPLOYMENT SECURITY, Respondent.

293 S.W.3d 454

Thomas SCHULTZ, Appellant, v. DIVISION OF EMPLOYMENT SECURITY, Respondent.

No. ED 90340.

Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, Division One.

July 8, 2008.

John J. Ammann, St. Louis University Legal Clinic, St. Louis, MO, for appellant.

Matthew R. Heeren, Division of Employment Security, Jefferson City, MO, for respondent.

ROBERT G. DOWD, JR., Judge.

Thomas Schultz ("Claimant") appeals from the decision of the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission ("the Commission") denying his claim for trade readjustment allowance benefits ("TRA Benefits"). Claimant contends the Commission erred in denying benefits to him from the date he exhausted his unemployment benefits for two reasons: (1) because Claimant's petition for certification and application for benefits should be considered constructively filed the date he first attempted to petition for certification and apply for benefits; and (2) because he was thwarted in his efforts to petition for certification and apply for benefits by state officials, the doctrine of equitable estoppel should prevent the Division of Employment Security ("the Division") from denying him benefits. We affirm.

Claimant had been an employee of CPC Logistics, Inc. until he was laid off as "as result of the shut-down of the operation of [their] client SPD-1 LOGISTICS INC. at Hazelwood, MO brought about by the closure of the FORD plant itself" on March 31, 2006. Claimant initially received unemployment benefits, but these benefits were exhausted around February 10, 2007.

While receiving these unemployment benefits, Claimant repeatedly inquired about TRA Benefits, but was told each time by, among others, Gordon Douglas ("Douglas"), a counselor at the Missouri Career Center, which is part of the Division of Workforce Development ("DWD"), that he did not qualify for TRA Benefits. Further, Claimant testified Douglas failed to inform him that he could get a few co-workers and file a petition for certification; instead, Douglas incorrectly informed Claimant the company or the union had to apply for them. A petition for certification for TRA Benefits was finally filed on March 5, 2007, and Claimant began receiving TRA Benefits on May 12, 2007.

This case involves Claimant's claim that he is entitled to TRA Benefits from February 17, 2007 to May 5, 2007 because he would have been eligible for TRA Benefits during this time period but for the misinformation he received from the Division and the DWD.

To assist workers who lost their jobs because of import competition, the Trade Act of 1974 established a program of TRA Benefits as a supplement to state unemployment benefits. International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America v. Brock, 477 U.S. 274, 277, 106 S.Ct. 2523, 91 L.Ed.2d 228 (1986). The Act and its implementing regulations are to be liberally construed so as to carry out the purpose of the Act. 20 C.F.R. Section 617.52(a). The Act's purpose is to assist workers who have been adversely affected by import competition in returning to suitable employment. Nelson v. Commissioner of Employment and Economic Development, 698 N.W.2d 443, 447 (Minn.App. 2005). TRA Benefits are weekly allowances, in an amount equal to the weekly unemployment insurance benefit, paid to eligible workers enrolled in training programs approved by the Secretary of Labor ("the Secretary"). Employment Department v. Furseth, 140 Or.App. 464, 915 P.2d 1043, 1044 (1996). The funds used to pay TRA Benefits are provided exclusively by the federal government, but payments are made by the state, which acts "as agent of the United States" and is then reimbursed by the federal government. 19 U.S.C. Section 2313; Furseth, 915 P.2d at 1044.

According to the program set up by the Trade Act of 1974:

a group of workers, their union, or some other authorized representative may petition the Secretary of Labor to certify that their firm has been adversely affected by imports. If the Secretary issues a certificate of eligibility for such a group, workers within that group who meet certain standards of individual eligibility may then apply for and receive TRA benefits.

Brock, 477 U.S. at 277, 106 S.Ct. 2523; see also 19 U.S.C. Section 2271(a). The Secretary will certify workers as eligible if they were laid off due to increased imports. 19 U.S.C. Section 2272. Once a group of workers has been certified by the Secretary, the Secretary allows state agencies administering state unemployment insurance programs to determine whether individuals are eligible for TRA Benefits. 19 U.S.C. Section 2311. Thus, two things must happen before one receives TRA Benefits: (1) a petition for certification must be filed, and (2) once they are certified, individuals must apply for benefits with the state agency administering the TRA Benefits. 19 U.S.C. Section 2271(a) and 2291(a).

"Payment of a trade readjustment allowance shall be made to an adversely affected worker covered by a certification under subchapter A who files an application for such allowance for any week of unemployment which begins more than 60 days after the date on which the petition that resulted in such certification was filed. . . ." 19 U.S.C. Section 2291(a). Further, 20 C.F.R. Section 617.11(b) provides:

The first week any individual may be entitled to a payment of basic TRA shall be the later of: (1) The first week beginning more than 60 days after the date of the filing of the petition which resulted in certification under which the individual is covered; or (2) The first week beginning after the individual's exhaustion of all rights to UI including waiting period credit.

The Trade Act of 1974 provides "[t]he Secretary shall provide full information to workers about the benefit allowances, training, and other employment services available under this chapter and about the petition and application procedures, and the appropriate filing dates, for such allowances, training and services." 19 U.S.C. Section 2275. Further, cooperating state agencies are required to "advise each worker who applies for unemployment insurance of the benefits under this chapter and the procedures and deadlines for applying for such benefits" and to "facilitate the early filing of petitions [for certification]." 19 U.S.C. Section 2311(f)(1-2).

Moreover, federal regulations require that state agencies provide "full information to workers about benefit allowances, training, and other employment services . . . and about the petition and application procedures, and the appropriate filing dates, for such allowances, training and services" and state agencies shall also provide "whatever assistance is necessary to enable groups of workers, including unorganized workers, to prepare petitions or applications for program benefits." 20 C.F.R. Section 617.4.

The present case began when Claimant filed a claim for TRA Benefits from February 17, 2007 to May 5, 2007, the period after his unemployment benefits ended, but before he was eligible for TRA Benefits under the March 5, 2007 petition for certification. A deputy determined Claimant was not entitled to TRA Benefits because such benefits could not be paid until the later of the first week beginning more the sixty days after the filing of the petition which resulted in the certification under which Claimant is covered, or the first week beginning after Claimant's exhaustion of all rights to unemployment insurance benefits.

After the deputy denied his claim, Claimant appealed to the appeals tribunal at the Division arguing he would have been eligible for TRA Benefits from February 17, 2007 to May 5, 2007 if it were not for the incorrect information provided to him by the DWD. The Division found Claimant exhausted his benefits under the unemployment insurance program on February 10, 2007, including waiting credit. On March 5, 2007, a petition for certification was filed on behalf of Claimant. Of the petition for certification date and the unemployment insurance exhaustion dates, the petition for certification date was the later date. The first week beginning more than sixty days after this date began on May 6, 2007. Because Claimant was not entitled to TRA Benefits until the first week beginning more than sixty days after March 5, 2007 according to 20 C.F.R. § 617.11(b)(1), the appeals tribunal concluded Claimant was not entitled to payment of TRA Benefits on and prior to the week ending May 5, 2007. The appeals tribunal further found Claimant was entitled to TRA Benefits beginning with the week ending May 12, 2007, the first week beginning more than sixty days after the date of the filing of the petition for certification for Claimant's TRA Benefits. Thus, the appeals tribunal affirmed the decision of the deputy.

Claimant then filed an application for review with the Commission. The Commission also found Claimant was entitled to TRA Benefits the first week beginning more than sixty days after March 5, 2007 according to 19 U.S.C., Section 2291(a) and 20 C.F.R. § 617.11(b)(1). Thus, the Commission concluded Claimant was not entitled to payment of TRA Benefits on and prior to the week ending May 5, 2007. The Commission did note

the Division and [DWD] representatives failed in their obligation under the federal statute to "advise" [C]laimant of the qualifying requirements and entitlements to TRA at the time he filed his initial claim for unemployment. [] Nonetheless, we have been unable to locate any law that takes into effect the fault of the applicable state agencies. While 20 C.F.R. § 617.10(b) sometimes allows the application to the Division for TRA to be in effect backdated, that backdating is still subject to the first-entitlement provisions set forth above.[¹]

Accordingly, the Commission affirmed the decision of the appeals tribunal. This appeal follows.

When considering an appeal from a judgment of the Commission, "[t]he findings of the Commission as to the facts, if supported by...