Summary
stating that “[s]ince [WC] payments were awarded to [c]laimants on account of their job-related disabilities, and not in consideration of personal services rendered, such payments are not wages within the purview of the [UC] Law.”
Summary of this case from Logan v. Unemployment Comp. Bd. of ReviewOpinion
Argued September 12, 1984
December 5, 1984.
Unemployment compensation — Financial eligibility — Wages — Workmen's compensation benefits.
1. Workmen's compensation benefits are paid because of job-related disabilities and not for services rendered and thus may not be considered as wages in computing base year wages of the recipient to determine financial eligibility for unemployment compensation benefits. [296]
Argued September 12, 1984, before Judges WILLIAMS, JR., CRAIG and DOYLE, sitting as a panel of three.
Appeals, Nos. 309 C.D. 1983, 1025 C.D. 1983 and 1212 C.D. 1983, from the Orders of the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review in cases of In Re: Claims of Russell L. Swackhammer, No. B-213558, Hazel D. Ellenberger, No. B-216306, and Cynthia Lynn Floravit, No. B-217765.
Applications with the Office of Employment Security for unemployment compensation benefits. Benefits denied. Applicants appealed to the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review. Denials affirmed. Applicants appealed to the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. Held: Orders affirmed.
John R. Fernan, Cartwright, Fernan Whitnew, for petitioners.
Richard F. Faux, Associate Counsel, with him, Charles G. Hasson, Acting Deputy Chief Counsel, for respondent.
Russell L. Swackhammer, Hazel D. Ellenberger and Cynthia Lynn Floravit (Claimants) appeal from Unemployment Compensation Board of Review decisions which affirmed a referee's determinations that Claimants were financially ineligible for benefits under Section 404 of the Unemployment Compensation Law (Law).
Act of December 5, 1936, Second Ex. Sess., P.L. (1937) 2897, as amended, 43 P. S. § 804.
The sole question is whether workmen's compensation benefit payments were improperly excluded from the calculation of base year wages for the purposes of determining Claimants' financial eligibility for unemployment compensation. To qualify for unemployment benefits, an eligible claimant must be attached to the labor force as determined by the amount of wages earned in a base year.
Section 4(a) of the Law, 43 P. S. § 753(a), defines "base year" as including the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters preceding the first day of a claimant's benefit year. The fifty-two consecutive week period, beginning with the day on which a benefit application is filed, constitutes a "benefit year." Section 4(b) of the Law, 43 P. S. § 753(b).
Claimants had insufficient base year wages under Section 404, because the referee (as affirmed by the board) determined that Claimants' workmen's compensation benefit payments were not wages within the intendment of Section 4(x) of the Law, and could not, therefore, be included in base year wages necessary for financial eligibility.
43 P. S. § 753(x).
Section 4(x) defines "wages," in pertinent part, as including "all remuneration . . . paid by an employer to an individual with respect to his employment." Essential to the definition of "wages" as including all remuneration paid with respect to employment is the meaning of the terms "employment" and "remuneration." "Employment" means "all personal service performed for remuneration," Section 4(1)(1) of the Law, and "remuneration," while not statutorily defined, has been judicially interpreted to mean "payment for services performed." The Beistle Company v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 73 Pa. Commw. 205, 207, 457 A.2d 1029, 1030 (1983) (citing Gianfelice Unemployment Compensation Case, 396 Pa. 545, 555, 153 A.2d 906, 911 (1959)). Consequently, the inclusion of workmen's compensation benefits in base year qualifying wages requires that such payments be made in consideration of personal services performed by Claimants.
43 P. S. § 753(1)(1).
In Karamanian v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 46 Pa. Commw. 163, 405 A.2d 1364 (1979), employer provided salary continuation payments, which were made on account of a Claimant's disability, and, therefore, not in consideration of personal services performed, were held not to constitute wages under Section 4(x) of the Law. Workmen's compensation benefits are awarded whenever an employee sustains a totally or partially disabling work-related injury. Since workmen's compensation payments were awarded to Claimants on account of their job-related disabilities, and not in consideration of personal services rendered, such payments are not wages within the purview of the Law. Id. The board, therefore, properly excluded workmen's compensation payments from the calculation of Claimants' base year qualifying wages.
See Section 306(a) and (b) of The Pennsylvania Workmen's Compensation Act, Act of June 2, 1915, P.L. 736, as amended, 77 P. S. § 511 and 512 (total and partial disability provisions, respectively).
We accordingly affirm the orders of the board.
ORDER IN 309 C.D. 1983
AND NOW, this 5th day of December, 1984, the order of the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review at Decision No. B-213558, dated January 12, 1983, is affirmed.
ORDER IN 1025 C.D. 1983
AND NOW, this 5th day of December, 1984, the order of the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review at Decision No. B-216306, dated March 28, 1983, is affirmed.
ORDER IN 1212 C.D. 1983
AND NOW, this 5th day of December, 1984, the order of the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review at Decision No. B-217765, dated May 3, 1983, is affirmed.