TOTAL AV SYS., INC. v. Dept. of Labor

• Decision Date: 25 August 2000
• Docket Number: No. 145,145
• Citation: 758 A.2d 124,360 Md. 387
• Parties: TOTAL AUDIO-VISUAL SYSTEMS, INC. v. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, LICENSING AND REGULATION, et al.
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

758 A.2d 124

360 Md. 387

TOTAL AUDIO-VISUAL SYSTEMS, INC. v. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, LICENSING AND REGULATION, et al.

No. 145, Sept. Term, 1999.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

August 25, 2000.

Claire O. Ducker, Sr., Locust Grove, VA (S. Curt Hansen, Washington, DC), all on brief, for Appellant.

Matthew W. Boyle, Asst. Atty. Gen. (J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Atty. Gen. of Md., on brief), Baltimore, for Appellees.

Argued before BELL, C.J., and ELDRIDGE, RODOWSKY, RAKER, WILNER, CATHELL and HARRELL, JJ.

BELL, Chief Judge.

This case is an appeal from a grant of unemployment benefits awarded to the claimant, Gary C. Miller ("Miller"), based upon his employment with the petitioner, Total Audio-Visual System. Despite opposition from the petitioner, the Board of Appeals for the Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation ("DLLR") determined that there was "good cause" for the claimant's voluntary resignation of his job with the petitioner, construing that phrase, as used in Md. Code Ann., Labor and Employment § 8-1001 (1991, 1999 Repl. Vol.),¹ to include those situations in which an employee voluntarily leaves one job for a better one, and affirmed the award of benefits. The Circuit Court for Montgomery County agreed. We issued the writ of certiorari on our own motion to consider whether, under the Labor and Employment Article, an employee is entitled to unemployment benefits on the basis of his or her employment with a previous employer where that employee voluntarily resigned a permanent and satisfactory job with that previous employer in order to take a job with another employer. Because we conclude that, under the circumstances of this case, the claimant was not entitled to unemployment compensation on the basis of his employment with the petitioner, we shall reverse the judgment of the Circuit Court.

I.

For approximately one year, the claimant was employed by the petitioner in a managerial position. His salary was $32,000.00 per year plus one percent of the petitioner's net profits. During the latter part of that year, the claimant received an offer of employment from Projection Incorporated ("Projection"), a company engaged in business similar to that of the petitioner. The offer included an $8,000.00 increase in pay, plus one percent of that company's gross profits. When the petitioner declined to match the offer, the claimant voluntarily resigned from his position with the petitioner and began working for Projection. Shortly after commencing work at Projection, however, the claimant was laid off through no fault of his own.²

The claimant applied for unemployment benefits with DLLR based, however, on his work history with the petitioner. The initial claims specialist denied the benefits, finding both that the claimant was not eligible for benefits based upon his short work history with Projection and that he had left his employment with the petitioner voluntarily and without good cause within the meaning of § 8-1001 of the Labor and Employment Article. The claimant appealed and, after a de novo hearing, the Hearing Examiner found that because the claimant left his employment with the petitioner for what he considered better employment, including an $8,000.00 pay raise, there was good cause and, thus, the claimant was entitled to receive unemployment compensation under § 8-1001. The petitioner appealed the Hearing Examiner's decision to the Board of Appeals of the DLLR, which affirmed the decision of the Hearing Examiner. He then sought judicial review in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, which also affirmed the award of benefits. Next, the petitioner appealed to the Court of Special Appeals, but before that court considered the matter, we granted certiorari to address the important issue of first impression that this case presents.

II.

In this Court, the petitioner argues that unemployment benefits should not have been granted to the claimant. It argues that the governing statutes, § 8-1001 and § 8-611 of the Labor & Employment Article, clearly disqualify the claimant from receiving benefits. Specifically, it contends that there was nothing in, or about, the claimant's job with the petitioner that precipitated his leaving and that it would be argumentum ad absurdum to contend that voluntarily leaving a permanent and satisfactory job for what the claimant believes to be a better job can be considered a "valid circumstance," defined in § 8-1001(c)(1)(ii) as "of such necessitous or compelling nature that the individual has no reasonable alternative other than leaving the employment," for awarding benefits. Accordingly, it urges this Court to reverse the judgment of the Circuit Court.

DLLR conversely argues that unemployment benefits were properly awarded in this case precisely because a claimant who leaves a position for other employment with similar responsibilities and substantially better pay has left with good cause under § 8-1001. Further, DLLR contends that the Board's interpretation of § 8-1001 is consistent with the plain language of the statute, its legislative history, and the remedial nature of the Unemployment Insurance Law. Moreover, citing Board of Educ. of Montgomery County v. Paynter, 303 Md. 22, 491 A.2d 1186 (1985) and cases from other jurisdictions, it argues that the Board's decision is consistent with the standard set by this Court, as well as the decisions of other state courts addressing the issue, that leaving one's job to accept better employment is a cause which would impel the average, reasonable worker to leave his or her job. Accordingly, it urges this Court to affirm the judgment of the Circuit Court.

We agree with the petitioner. Because §§ 8-1001 and 8-611 are clear and unambiguous, and the meaning derived from the words the Legislature chose to use to express its intent is both reasonable and logical, we hold that the claimant in this case is not eligible for unemployment benefits based upon his employment with the petitioner. Therefore, we shall reverse the judgment of the Circuit Court.

III.

At the outset, we review the process of awarding unemployment benefits in Maryland. Title 8 of the Labor and Employment Article is the codification of unemployment law under Maryland's statutory scheme. Pursuant to § 8-806,³ when an individual applies for unemployment insurance benefits under § 8-805, a DLLR claims specialist and then a Hearing Examiner reviews the reasons for that individual's separation from any employer during that individual's "base period." The Legislature defines "base period" as "the first 4 of the last 5 completed calendar quarters immediately preceding the start of the benefit year," see § 8-101(b), and classifies each employer during the base period as a "base period employer." See § 8-101(c). Pursuant to § 8-611(b), when a former employee applies for unemployment benefits, every former employer within the State in that base period can be charged for benefits paid to that former employee. If, however, the claimant has separated from any of his or her base period employers for a disqualifying reason, see §§ 8-1001, 8-1002, 8-1002.1, 8-1003, he or she is disqualified from receiving unemployment insurance benefits. Section 8-806 also allows for such a determination to be referred first to a hearing examiner and ultimately to be decided by the DLLR Board of Appeals.

This Court's review of the DLLR Board of Appeals decision is limited. As we have said, in reviewing the decision of an administrative agency:

[A] reviewing court, be it a circuit court or an appellate court, shall apply the substantial evidence test to the final decisions of an administrative agency, but it must not itself make independent findings of fact or substitute its judgment for that of the agency. Of course, a reviewing court may always determine whether the administrative agency made an error of law. Therefore, ordinarily, the court reviewing a final decision of an administrative agency shall determine the legality of the decision and whether there was substantial evidence from the record as a whole to support the decision.

Board of Educ. of Montgomery County v. Paynter, 303 Md. 22, 35, 491 A.2d 1186, 1192-93 (1985). But we also pointed out in Office of People's Counsel v. Maryland Public Service Com'n, 355 Md. 1, 14, 733 A.2d 996, 1003 (1999)(quoting Commissioners of Cambridge v. Eastern Shore Public Serv. Co., 192 Md. 333, 339, 64 A.2d 151, 154 (1949) and citing Mayor & Council of Crisfield v. Public Serv. Comm'n, 183 Md. 179, 189, 36 A.2d 705, 710 (1944) and Baltimore Gas and Elec. Co. v. Dep't of Health and Mental Hygiene, 284 Md. 216, 395 A.2d 1174 (1979)), that "[q]uestions of law, however, are `completely subject to review by the courts,' ... although the agency's interpretation of a statute may be entitled to some deference." See also, Board of Physician Quality Assurance v. Banks, 354 Md. 59, 69, 729 A.2d 376, 381 (1999)

; Liberty Nursing Center, Inc. v. Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, 330 Md. 433, 443, 624 A.2d 941, 946 (1993). That deference, however, is by no means dispositive, nor otherwise as great as that applicable to factual findings or mixed questions of law and fact. Baltimore Bldg. and Constr. Trades Council v. Barnes, 290 Md. 9, 14, 427 A.2d 979, 982 (1981). As the issue in the case sub judice is solely a question of statutory interpretation, we review the agency's determination de novo.

It is well-settled that a statute is itself the best evidence of its own meaning. Board of License Comm'rs for Charles County v. Toye, 354 Md. 116, 122, 729 A.2d 407, 410 (1999); Read v. Supervisor of Assessments of Anne Arundel County, 354 Md. 383, 392-93, 731 A.2d 868, 873 (1999); Resper v. State, 354 Md. 611, 618-19, 732 A.2d 863, 867 (1999). Indeed, we have said many times that the process of statutory interpretation begins with, and frequently ends with, the words of the statute. See, McNeil v. State, 356 Md. 396, 404, 739 A.2d 80, 85 (1999)

; Schuman, Kane,...