Title: Harding v. Industrial Commission

State: colorado

Issuer: Colorado Supreme Court

Document:

515 P.2d 95 (1973) Gary C. HARDING, Petitioner, v. The INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION of the State of Colorado et al., Respondents. No. 25970. Supreme Court of Colorado, En Banc. October 9, 1973. *96 Edward J. Scheunemann, Denver, for petitioner. John P. Moore, Atty. Gen., John Bush, Deputy Atty. Gen., Robert L. Harris, Asst. Atty. Gen., Denver, for respondents. LEE, Justice. This is an unemployment compensation case in which Gary G. Harding (claimant) was denied unemployment compensation benefits. The appeal concerns the statutory construction and constitutionality of 1969 Perm.Supp., C.R.S.1963, 82-4-8(4)(g) et seq., commonly referred to as the "better job" provision of the Colorado Employment Security Act. The controversy centers around the definition of the phrase "better job." Claimant asserts the statute was misapplied as to him under the facts hereinafter set forth, or, in the alternative, he contends that the provision violates Article II, Section 25, of the Colorado Constitution and the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. We conclude that the provision herein involved was properly applied to disqualify claimant from an award of unemployment compensation, and that as so construed it does not violate the constitutional guarantees of due process and equal protection of the laws. The record of the hearing before the referee of the division of employment reveals *97 that claimant, a steel worker, was employed at Midwest Steel Company from December 14, 1971, through February 7, 1972, where he averaged twenty-five hours of work per week. He voluntarily terminated his employment with Midwest to accept a better job with Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company, where he was to receive the same pay but would work more hours per week. On February 23, 1972, however, he voluntarily terminated the Pittsburgh job to work with Stearns-Roger, Incorporated, a job which he felt would be of longer duration. The claim for unemployment insurance arose out of a three-week period when Stearns-Roger was shut down during a carpenters strike. The referee made the following pertinent findings and conclusions: This decision was subsequently affirmed by the Colorado industrial commission. Claimant then commenced this appeal, which, because of the constitutional challenge presented, was transferred from the Court of Appeals to this Court pursuant to C.A.R. 50. The statutory provisions effective January 1, 1972, relevant to this case provide that a worker who voluntarily separates from a job to accept a better job, as defined by the statute, shall be eligible for a full award of benefits in the event of subsequent unemployment by reason of statutorily defined conditions. The specific provisions, the application and construction of which are here challenged, are Sections 82-4-8(4)(g)(i) and (ii), which provide: Section 82-4-8(6)(b)(vii) provides that the worker shall be given no award if he quits to accept other employment which could not be construed as a better job, as defined by the statute. Claimant challenges the requirement that, in order to qualify as a better job, the new job must last at least ninety days from the first date of employment. No other statutory requirements are in dispute in this case. Claimant's first argument is that the ninety-day provision only applies when the new and better job lasts less than ninety days "due to lack of work"; therefore, it cannot disqualify him since he did not terminate with Pittsburgh due to lack of work. The lack-of-work provision is no longer pertinent, having been declared unconstitutional in Spann v. Industrial Commission, supra, and claimant's argument predicated on this provision has no merit. Next, he contends that the ninety-day provision should be interpreted as applying to the duration of the job rather than the employee's occupancy of the job. The contention ignores the specific language of Section 82-4-8(4)(g) (iv), which provides that the better job "shall be considered to exist only for so long as the worker is actually in employment." Adams v. Indust. Comm., 31 Colo.App. 340, 501 P.2d 1334. Also, claimant argues that the ninety-day provision as applied to him would arbitrarily require the disqualification of other employees who might accept what is clearly a better job but who were subsequently compelled to quit within the ninety-day period for reasons of health, hazardous working conditions, or other factors not within the workers' control. This construction also ignores the clear language of Section 82-4-8(4)(g)(ii), exempting workers from the ninety-day requirement when the new job is terminated "under conditions of which, in the judgment of the division, the worker had no knowledge at the time he accepted the job and over which he had no control." Ordinarily, words and phrases found in statutes are to be construed according to their familiar and generally accepted meaning. Forced, subtle, strained or unusual interpretation should never be resorted to where the language is plain, its meaning is clear, and no absurdity is involved. Lidke v. Indus. Comm., 159 Colo. 580, 413 P.2d 200; Jones v. Board, 119 Colo. 420, 204 P.2d 560. Conceding that the Colorado Employment Security Act is to be liberally construed to further its remedial and beneficent purposes (Andersen v. Indust. Comm., 167 Colo. 281, 447 P.2d 221), it is not the function of liberal construction to twist facts in order to reach a favorable result for an employee. Montano v. Indust. Comm., 171 Colo. 92, 464 P.2d 518. In our view under the plain language of the statute a job must, in order to qualify as a better job, last at least ninety days from the commencement of work unless the employee is unable to complete the ninety days of employment through no fault of his own. Adams v. Indust. Comm., supra. It is the expressed intent of the legislature, as set forth in Section 82-4-8(1) of the Colorado Employment Security Act, that unemployment insurance is for the benefit of persons who become unemployed through no fault of their own. Here, claimant voluntarily quit his employment at Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company prior to the expiration of the ninety-day period and thus became ineligible for unemployment benefits under the statute. We hold that the commission properly applied the statute in ordering that Harding's claim be denied. Turning now to the question of constitutionality, claimant further contends that the statute as above construed violates Article II, Section 25, of the Colorado Constitution and the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. We view his argument as falling far short of overcoming the presumption of constitutionality that attends the statute. Bayly Co. v. Depart. of Employ't., 155 Colo. 433, 395 P.2d 216. Claimant contends that the commission's construction of the statute as applied to him results in a determination directly in conflict with the purposes of the act. Further, he argues the ninety-day provision is unrelated to any legitimate state purpose and penalizes persons who try to improve their economic status. Thus, he contends, the statute is arbitrary and capricious, and infringes on his constitutional rights. We do not agree. It is clear from the declaration of policy (Section 82-1-2) that the Colorado Employment Security Act was enacted to avoid economic insecurity resulting from involuntary unemployment. The legislature found that the public good and general welfare required the "compulsory setting aside of unemployment reserves to be used for the benefit of persons unemployed through no fault of their own." In Cottrell v. Teets, 139 Colo. 558, 342 P.2d 1016, it was observed that the formulation of the statutory scheme of the act to accomplish the declared purposes was strictly a legislative matter subject only to the limitations that the methods adopted not operate unfairly, arbitrarily, oppressively, or unreasonably upon those affected. See also, Carmichael v. Southern Coal Co., 301 U.S. 495, 57 S. Ct. 868, 81 L. Ed. 1245. In Miller v. Indust. Comm., 173 Colo. 476, 480 P.2d 565, where a classification was attacked as an unreasonable discrimination against women workers, this Court stated: The act establishes a legislative scheme by which persons may be supported through industry-caused unemployment, from funds created by the taxation of employers. It is implicit from the language of the act that voluntary separations initiated by employees shall render the employees ineligible for unemployment benefits, subject to certain exceptions. Section 82-4-8(4)(a) through (o). The conditions of exception are spelled out in detail. Likewise, subsequent sections of the act enumerate conditions which may dictate in certain circumstances only a partial award of benefits, or may preclude under specified conditions any award whatsoever. Section 82-4-8(6)(b)(vii) specifically precludes an award of benefits when the worker quits his job to accept other employment which could not be construed as a "better job" as previously defined. Concerning the specific ninety-day employment requirement of the better job exception provision, there is justification for compulsory compliance with this requirement, as it is obviously designed to prevent job-hopping and to secure continuity of employment. We cannot say this is not a legitimate state interest related to the purpose of the act, that of establishing economic stability and security generally. *100 Further, the ninety-day requirement, together with other prescribed better-job conditions, prevents the depletion of the insurance fund account of the past employer who in no way contributed to the job separation of the worker who voluntarily separates under conditions of disqualification. It is not unreasonable to protect an employer's account, established for the express purpose of supporting employees during periods of involuntary unemployment, from diversion to former employees who brought about their unemployment by their voluntary acts. A different rule would be inequitable, unjust and contrary to the expressed purposes of the act. Ford Motor Co. v. Abercrombie, 207 Ga. 464, 62 S.E.2d 209. In respect to the other aspect of claimant's constitutional attackthat he was denied equal protection of the lawsit has not been demonstrated beyond a reasonable doubt that he was denied equal protection under the statute as construed by the commission. Claimant's argument is simply that the construction of the act creates two arbitrary classifications. The two classifications are those workers who procure a new job which lasts ninety days and who will therefore be compensated should they later become unemployed, as opposed to those workers who take a new job but who are disqualified because they do not remain in the job for the required ninety days, choosing to leave sooner for other work prospects. As in all equal protection matters, the Court must first determine the standard to be used in assessing the validity or invalidity of the legislation under attack. If the legislation interferes with a right explicitly or implicitly guaranteed by the Constitution, or involves a suspect classification, the state must carry a heavy burden of justification by showing a compelling state interest therefor. Graham v. Richardson, 403 U.S. 365, 91 S. Ct. 1848, 29 L. Ed. 2d 534; Shapiro v. Thompson, 394 U.S. 618, 89 S. Ct. 1322, 22 L. Ed. 2d 600. Here, there is no constitutionally guaranteed right to unemployment benefits. Neither do we find the classification here involved to be suspect. In all other instances, as in the present case, a statutory classification is entitled to the usual presumption of validity and the individual carrying the attack has the burden of showing that it fails to rationally further any legitimate state purpose. Rodriguez v. San Antonio Independent School District, 411 U.S. 1, 93 S. Ct. 1278, 36 L. Ed. 2d 16 (1973); Dandridge v. Williams, 397 U.S. 471, 90 S. Ct. 1153, 25 L. Ed. 2d 491; Developments in the Law of Equal Protection, 82 Harv.L.Rev. 1065, 1076-1131 (1969). Justice Powell, writing for the majority in Rodriguez, supra, stated: We cannot say that the preservation of state funds, the discouragement of job-hopping, and the desire to charge employers only in certain instances for the subsequent unemployment of workers who voluntarily quit their jobs, are not legitimate state aims served by the ninety-day provision. In Romero v. Hodgson, 319 F. Supp. 1201 (N.D.Cal.1970), aff'd summarily, 403 U.S. 901, 91 S. Ct. 2215, 29 L. Ed. 2d 678 (1971), in holding that the exclusion of agricultural labor from the definition of "employment" for purposes of unemployment compensation is rational and does not constitute "invidious discrimination" violative of due process and equal protection, the Court stated: See also, Anaya v. Indust. Comm., Colo., 512 P.2d 625; Miller v. Indust. Comm., 173 Colo. 476, 480 P.2d 565; Slaughter v. Florida Dept. of Commerce, Div. of Lab., 252 So. 2d 839 (Fla.App.1971); Norton v. Department of Employment Security, 22 Utah 2d 24, 447 P.2d 907; Caughey v. Employment Security Department, 81 Wash. 2d 597, 503 P.2d 460. The results of the application of the statute may appear harsh to claimant under the facts of this case. This alone will not justify the conclusion that it denies equal protection. As stated in Dandridge v. Williams, supra: We conclude the classification is not arbitrary or unreasonable, and no invidious discrimination or denial of equal protection has been demonstrated. Supportive of our conclusions here is Jones v. Review Board of Indiana Emp. Sec. Div., 143 Ind.App. 64, 238 N.E.2d 291 (1968), where a similar better-job statutory provision (Burns' Ind.Stat.Ann. § 52-1539 (as amend. 1972), IC 1971, XX-X-XX-X was upheld against attack. See also, Iowa Code Ann. § 96.5 (West, 1972). The order is affirmed. PRINGLE, C. J., dissents. KELLEY, J., does not participate. [1] The emphasized portion of subparagraph (ii) was held to be unconstitutional in Spann v. Industrial Commission, Colo., 508 P.2d 385.