Sonneman v. Knight
| Decision Date | 02 March 1990 |
| Docket Number | No. S-2809,S-2809 |
| Citation | 790 P.2d 702 |
| Parties | 60 Ed. Law Rep. 209, 47 A.L.R.5th 965 Dr. Joseph SONNEMAN, Appellant, v. Judy KNIGHT, Acting Commissioner, Department of Labor, State of Alaska, Appellee. |
| Court | Alaska Supreme Court |
Dr. Joseph A. Sonneman, pro se.
Kristen F. Bomengen, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Douglas B. Baily, Atty. Gen., Juneau, for appellee.
Before MATTHEWS, C.J., and RABINOWITZ, BURKE, COMPTON and MOORE, JJ.
Joseph Sonneman voluntarily terminated his employment with the United States Postal Service to enter law school as a full time student. He timely filed claims for unemployment compensation, asserting that law school is vocational training, thereby entitling him to benefits.
Sonneman's claims were denied at all administrative levels. The superior court rejected Sonneman's administrative appeal. We affirm.
Joseph Sonneman was employed between July 30, 1984 and July 30, 1986 by the United States Postal Service in Juneau as a letter carrier and distribution clerk. On July 30, 1986, Sonneman voluntarily terminated his employment. His stated reason for doing so was to attend law school at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., as a full time student. 1
The day after Sonneman terminated his employment he applied for unemployment compensation. He completed a Student Availability Questionnaire in which he stated that he would not accept employment conflicting with his class schedule, and that he would be taking a "full student load" as a first year law student. Sonneman acknowledged that he expected this schooling to result in a J.D. degree. After his arrival in Washington, D.C., he filed an interstate unemployment compensation claim against the State of Alaska.
On August 6 the Employment Security Division (ESD) of the Department of Labor (DOL) sent Sonneman three notices of determination denying him benefits. ESD reasoned that 1) Sonneman voluntarily had left suitable work for academic studies which was not good cause within the meaning of AS 23.20.379; 2 Sonneman was not able to or available for work during any week for which benefits were claimed because he was attending academic classes full-time within the meanings of AS 23.20.378 3 and AS 23.20.382; 4 and 3) Sonneman was not ready, willing and able to accept any suitable work within the meaning of AS 23.20.378, offered while travelling to Washington, D.C.
The DOL hearing officer and Commissioner of Labor likewise rejected Sonneman's claim. He appealed the DOL's decision to the superior court. AS 22.10.020(d); AS 44.62.560; Appellate Rule 601. He alleged that the denial of benefits denied him equal protection and due process of law under the federal and state constitutions, and that law school was compensable "vocational training." 5
The superior court affirmed. It reasoned that unemployment benefits were not a fundamental right nor did Sonneman's denial of benefits raise the spectre of a suspect classification. It thus applied the rational basis level of scrutiny to his federal equal protection claim and rejected it. Under the state's sliding scale equal protection analysis, the superior court also found the classifications in the statutes passed constitutional muster. Finally, relying on the definition of vocational training or retraining course in AS 23.20.520(23), it then reasoned that law school was not a vocational school. 6
Sonneman appeals.
Constitutional questions are questions of law to which we apply our independent judgment. We adopt "the rule of law most persuasive in light of precedent, reason, and policy." Guin v. Ha, 591 P.2d 1281, 1284 n. 6 (Alaska 1979).
State equal protection claims are analyzed under this court's flexible "sliding scale" test, as adopted in State v. Erickson, 574 P.2d 1, 12 (Alaska 1978). The "sliding scale" test has been refined into a three step analysis, articulated in Alaska Pacific Assurance Co. v. Brown, 687 P.2d 264 (Alaska 1984):
First, it must be determined ... what weight should be afforded the constitutional interest impaired by the challenged enactment....
Second, an examination must be undertaken of the purposes served by a challenged statute....
Third, an evaluation of the state's interest in the particular means employed to further its goals must be undertaken.
Sonneman contends that the right to receive unemployment compensation benefits is an inherent, fundamental right and that distinguishing between academic and vocational training is impermissible. He premises his argument on the "rewards of industry" clause in article I section 1 of the Alaska Constitution 7 and AS 23.20.010 and AS 23.20.350(d). This contention lacks merit.
It is doubtful that the legislature had the "rewards of industry" clause in mind when it enacted the Employment Security Act (Act). AS 23.20.005-.535. The Act was originally enacted in April 1955. Ch. 5, § 1, SLA 1955. The Constitutional Convention considered article I section 1 beginning in January 1956. 2 Proceedings of the Alaska Constitutional Convention (PACC) 1290-1294 (January 5, 1956). Moreover, other courts addressing the issue have accorded the interest in receiving unemployment benefits only minimal rational basis scrutiny. Idaho Dep't. of Employment v. Smith, 434 U.S. 100, 101, 98 S.Ct. 327, 328, 54 L.Ed.2d 324 (1977); Chandler v. Department of Employment Sec., 678 P.2d 315 (Utah 1984); Gluck v. Employment Security Dep't., 84 Wash.2d 316, 525 P.2d 768, 769 (1974).
Thus, the interest affected is entitled to review at the low end of the scale. As such the state need only show that the distinctions drawn bear a fair and substantial relationship to the Act's objective. Brown, 687 P.2d at 269-70. We conclude that such a relationship exists.
The intent underlying the Act is to "provide ... for the payment of compensation to individuals with respect to their unemployment." AS 23.20.005. This intent is limited however to "ameliorat[e] the negative effect that involuntary unemployment has on ... the ... individual...." Estes v. Department of Labor, 625 P.2d 293, 295 (Alaska 1981) (quoting State, Dep't of Labor v. Boucher, 581 P.2d 660, 662 (Alaska 1978)) (emphasis added). The state's argument that the distinction between vocational training and academic training is justified is as follows:
The exception that was established for vocational training programs was devised to extend training opportunities to otherwise unemployable individuals so that they might become employed after only a brief period of unemployment. The training program exception was intended to lessen the drain on the fund in cases in which workers who found themselves involuntarily unemployed were without the skills needed in the local job market. It was never intended to invite all insured workers to enhance their employability by leaving the full-time work force to acquire academic degrees.
In creating the training exception, the state was properly identifying a problem of fund depletion that could be caused by providing extended benefits to unemployed insured workers who are also "unemployable" because of limited skills. The statute provided the training exception so that a worker who entered an approved training program of limited duration could continue to receive benefits. Such an exception does not unreasonably deplete the fund and is intended to provide training for the purpose of immediate employability so that an insured worker may find employment more readily.* However, if such benefits were to be extended to all insured workers who elect to leave their employment and enroll in academic programs with the purpose of enhancing their employability, the fund could be rapidly depleted. Furthermore, it would soon cease to serve its original purpose and become another form of scholarship program.
We agree with this justification. Vocational training is better designed to assist those who are unemployable than is academic training, and assistance afforded by vocational training is less expensive than that which might be given by academic programs.
The distinction between vocational training and academic training serves to preserve the unemployment compensation fund for those most in need, the involuntarily unemployed. We conclude that this is a legitimate state purpose. Since Sonneman voluntarily terminated his employment to attend three years of law school, his case falls outside the policy of the Act.
Sonneman, relying on Brown and Herrick's Aero-Auto-Aqua Repair v. State, Dep't of Transp., 754 P.2d 1111, 1114 (Alaska 1988), asserts that saving costs alone is not a legitimate government objective under our equal protection analysis. Both cases are distinguishable. In both Herrick's and Brown, the sole purpose was to achieve a cost savings. Herrick's, 754 P.2d at 1114; Brown, 687 P.2d at 272. Here, the purpose is not solely thrift for its own sake; the purpose here is to preserve the fund's integrity and to provide training for the purpose of immediate employability so that an insured worker may find employment more readily. The state has chosen other vehicles to assist those wishing to pursue academic goals. AS 14.42.010-.390; AS 14.43.090-.250; AS 14.44.010-.060; 20 AAC 18.010-.090.
To summarize, the distinctions drawn by AS 23.20.378(c) and AS 23.20.382 are reasonable, not arbitrary, and are fairly and substantially related to their purposes. The legislature could reasonably conclude those pursuing academic degrees would impact the unemployment compensation fund's ability to fulfill its primary purpose more than those taking vocational training. Restricting benefits to those taking vocational training is fairly and substantially related to the purpose of preserving the integrity of the fund for those involuntarily unemployed. Thus, the distinction drawn does not violate the state's equal...
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...Co. v. Brown, 687 P.2d 264 (Alaska 1984); Erickson, 574 P.2d 1; Isakson v. Rickey, 550 P.2d 359 (Alaska 1976). See also Sonneman v. Knight, 790 P.2d 702 (Alaska 1990). In Zsupnik v. State, 789 P.2d 357 (Alaska 1990), as an incident of arrest, the defendant was entitled to call a relative or......