Opinion
Argued May 9, 1975
October 3, 1975.
Unemployment compensation — Work stoppage — Termination of interim contract — Preparation for strike — Lockout — Necessity for findings of fact.
1. An employer does not fail to maintain the status quo during a labor dispute by exercising a valid right to terminate an interim labor contract or by taking reasonable measures in preparation for a threatened strike, and proof of such activity is insufficient to establish that a work stoppage is the result of a lockout. [316]
2. In an unemployment compensation case the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review must render findings of fact and conclusions of law on issues vital to a just determination so that judicial review can properly be conducted. [316]
Argued May 9, 1975, before Judges CRUMLISH, JR., WILKINSON, JR. and BLATT, sitting as a panel of three.
Appeal, No. 1400 C.D. 1974, from the Order of the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review in case of In Re: Claim of Charles Helstrom, et al., No. B-123018.
Applications to Bureau of Employment Security for unemployment compensation benefits. Applications denied. Applicants appealed to the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review. Decision of referee, affirming and modifying action of denial, reversed and benefits allowed. Employer appealed to the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. Held: Reversed and remanded.
Robert H. Shoop, Jr., with him Jay A. Erstling, and Thorp, Reed Armstrong, for appellant.
Daniel R. Schuckers, Assistant Attorney General, with him Sydney Reuben, Assistant Attorney General, and Robert P. Kane, Attorney General, for appellee.
Neal Goldstein, with him Stephen C. Richman, and Markowitz Kirschner, for intervening appellee.
This is a companion case to the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review v. Haughton Elevator Company, 21 Pa. Commw. 307, 345 A.2d 297 (1975), filed simultaneously herewith, and the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review v. Otis Elevator Company, 21 Pa. Commw. 305, 345 A.2d 303 (1975), also filed simultaneously herewith. The findings of fact and the holding of the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review are essentially the same as discussed in Haughton. Here the Board relied upon its findings that the National Elevator Industries, Inc. (NEII) which represented the Otis Elevator Company (Otis), the appellant herein, terminated the agreement to extend the collective bargaining agreement originally scheduled to expire on March 23, 1972, and upon its finding that Otis took away the claimant's equipment so that he could not continue to work.
As discussed in Haughton, the first of the Board's reasons was insufficient to justify a conclusion that the work stoppage constituted a lockout. The appellant argues, however, as it did in Haughton, that the second reason was also insufficient, for the employer is entitled to take such action as a reasonable measure in preparation for a strike. Philco Corp. v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 430 Pa. 101, 242 A.2d 454 (1968). And as in Haughton, the Board here failed to render findings of fact and conclusions on this most vital issue. For the reasons set forth in Haughton, we, therefore, issue the following
ORDER
AND, NOW, this 3rd day of October, 1975, the decision and order of the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review is hereby reversed and the record shall be remanded to the Board for action and determination consistent with the above opinion.