US Pack Logistics, LLC v. Comm'r of Labor (In re Thomas)

• Decision Date: 17 December 2020
• Docket Number: 530311
• Parties: In the MATTER OF the Claim of Aston R. THOMAS, Respondent. US Pack Logistics, LLC, Appellant. v. Commissioner of Labor, Respondent.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

189 A.D.3d 1858
138 N.Y.S.3d 244

In the MATTER OF the Claim of Aston R. THOMAS, Respondent.

US Pack Logistics, LLC, Appellant.
v.
Commissioner of Labor, Respondent.

530311

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department, New York.

Calendar Date: November 24, 2020
Decided and Entered: December 17, 2020

138 N.Y.S.3d 245

Peter Fidopiastis, Queensbury, for appellant.

Law Offices of Catherine A. Barber, Guilderland (Catherine A. Barber of counsel), for Aston R. Thomas, respondent.

Letitia James, Attorney General, New York City (Gary Leibowitz of counsel), for Commissioner of Labor, respondent.

Before: Lynch, J.P., Clark, Aarons, Pritzker and Reynolds Fitzgerald, JJ.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

Pritzker, J.

Appeal from a decision of the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board, filed April 17, 2019, which ruled that U.S. Pack Logistics, LLC was liable for additional unemployment insurance contributions on remuneration paid to claimant and others similarly situated.

US Pack Logistics, LLC is in the business of facilitating the logistics of, among other things, deliveries for its clients. Claimant applied for and was hired by U.S. Pack to pick up and deliver blood samples for one of its clients. The Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board determined that claimant was an employee of U.S. Pack and that U.S. Pack was liable for unemployment insurance contributions on remuneration paid to claimant and those similarly situated. US Pack appeals.

We affirm. "Whether an employment relationship exists within the meaning of the unemployment insurance law is a question of fact, no one factor is determinative and the determination of the Board, if supported by substantial evidence on the record as a whole, is beyond further judicial review even though there is evidence in the record that would have supported a contrary conclusion" ( Matter of Thorndike [Penn Mut. Life Ins. Co.-Commissioner of Labor], 185 A.D.3d 1255, 1255, 127 N.Y.S.3d 213 [2020] [internal quotation marks and citations omitted]; see Matter of Vega [Postmates Inc.-Commissioner of Labor], 35...