Opinion
April 12, 1961.
June 15, 1961.
Unemployment Compensation — Appeals — Timeliness — Provisions of — Unemployment Compensation Law mandatory — Act of Assembly fixing time for appeal.
1. The appeal provisions of the Unemployment Compensation Law are mandatory, and an aggrieved party may not appeal after the time prescribed, unless he can prove that he was deprived of his right of appeal by fraud or its equivalent, i.e., wrongful or negligent conduct of the administrative authorities.
2. As a general rule, where an act of assembly fixes the time within which an appeal may be taken, courts have no power to extend the time, or to allow the act to be done at a later day as a matter of indulgence.
Before ERVIN, WRIGHT, WOODSIDE, WATKINS, MONTGOMERY, and FLOOD, JJ. (RHODES, P.J., absent).
Appeal, No. 59, April T., 1961, by claimant, from decision of Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, No. B-60056, in re claim of Donald J. Ferretti. Decision affirmed.
Donald J. Ferretti, appellant, in propria persona.
Sydney Reuben, Assistant Attorney General, with him Anne X. Alpern, Attorney General, for Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, appellee.
Argued April 12, 1961.
The referee decided against the claimant in this unemployment compensation case. His decision was mailed to the claimant on October 18, 1960. The last day for filing an appeal from the referee to the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review was Friday, October 28, 1960. See § 502 of the Unemployment Compensation Law of 1936, as amended, 43 P. S. § 822. The claimant filed his appeal Monday, October 31, 1960. The board dismissed the appeal as not having been timely filed. The claimant appealed to this Court, where he argued only the merits of the case.
As a general rule, where an act of assembly fixes the time within which an appeal may be taken, courts have no power to extend the time, or to allow the act to be done at a later day as a matter of indulgence. Tuttle Unemployment Compensation Case, 160 Pa. Super. 46, 49 A.2d 847 (1946).
We have held many times that the appeal provisions of the Unemployment Compensation Law are mandatory, and that an aggrieved party may not appeal after the time prescribed, unless he can prove that he was deprived of his right of appeal by fraud or its equivalent, i.e., wrongful or negligent conduct of the administrative authorities. Turner Unemployment Compensation Case, 163 Pa. Super. 168, 60 A.2d 583 (1948); Abrams Unemployment Compensation Case, 180 Pa. Super. 580, 119 A.2d 656 (1956); Bee Unemployment Compensation Case, 180 Pa. Super. 231, 119 A.2d 558 (1956); Marshall Unemployment Compensation Case, 177 Pa. Super. 259, 111 A.2d 165 (1955); Hood Unemployment Compensation Case, 193 Pa. Super. 88, 163 A.2d 896 (1960).
Order affirmed.