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TEE A~TOIINEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
Hon. WilliamH. Farmr Opinion. NO. !d'+l33 Administrator Texas EmploymentCommission Re: Benefiteligibilityconditions Austin, Texas for receipt of unemployment compensationby employeeunder subsection4(e) of the Texas UnemploymentCompensationAct codifiedas Article 5221b-2(e) Dear Mro Farmer: VernonesAnnotatedCivil Statuies,
You have requestedour opinionon subsection4(e) of the Texas UnemploymentConpensationAct, codifiedas Article 522lb-2(e),Vernon's Civil Statutes,which prescribesas one of the benefiteligibilitycon- ditionsfor the receipt of unemploymentcompensationthat certainamounts of sages be "received"by the claimantwithin certaincalendarquarters.
Your letter statesthe followingfacts: 0 0 0 The claimanthas a base period consistingof the third and fourth quartersof 1955 and the first and secondquartersof 1956. Her emplo r has submittedwage reportsreflectin that she earned r827.00 in the third quarter of 1955,.50 in the fourth quarterof 1955, no earningsin the first quarterof 1956 and $123.00in the secondquarter of 1956, while the $827.00reported in the third quarter of 1955 was earned during this period, the clainmntdid not pick up one $97.00 check included in this amount until Saturday,October1, 1955, although this check was dated September30 and was availableto her on that date had she asked for it,"
You ask the followingquestions:
"If it is ruled that the olaimantreceivedthe $97.00 check availableto her and dated September30, in the third quarterof 1955, does she smet the require- ments of the subsectionof the Act mentioned?
"In the event your answer is to the effect that the $97.00 was receivedin the third quarter of 1955 and she thereforereceivedonly $49.50 in the fourthquarterof 1955, could the claimantbe said to have met the require- ments of paragraphthree of subsection4(e) of the Act under the 'de minimis"rule?" -.. - . -
Hon. WilliamH. Farmer,page 2 (IN-133)
Paragraphthree of subsection4(e)of the Texas UnemploymentCom- pensationAct, is codifirdas Artiole 5221b-2(e)(3) of Vernon'sAnnotated Civil Statutes,ae amended,and providesthat an unemployedindividual shall be eligibleto receivebenefitswith respectto any benefitperiod only if the Commissionfinds that he has:
"Withinhis base periodm wages for unem- ploymentby employersin an amount equal to or exceed- ing Four HundredFifty Dollars ($450)sprovidedthat he has receivedwages equal to or in excess of Fifty Dollars ($50)in each of three (3) or more of the quartersin his base period," (Underscoring added)
The historyof this legislationrevealsthat it was enactedin by the 44th Legislature,Third Called Session, The subsectionof the Abt with which we are here concernedwas amended severaltimes before taking its presentform as above set forth. The Acts of 1939, 46th Iagis- lature,p. 437, ch. 2, providedthat:
"se, 4. An unemployedindividualshall be eligibleto receivebenefitswith respectto any benefitperiod only if the Commissionfinds that: 11.. .
"cd). e 0 he baswfthinhis baueperiodm wages from e loymentby employersequal to not less than eight (8 "p times his benefitamount." (Undersaoring added)
By Acts, 1943, 48th Legislature,p* 585, ah. 343, this subsec- tion was amendedby substitutingthe word "receivedvfor the word "earned". The Legislatureby this substitution recogniaedthe differencebetueen "earned"and Rreoeivedn, Since this amendment,the word "received"has continuedto be used in this sectionof the Act.
In-e1 v. Esag 68 A. 2d 129, 135 Corm. 666, the Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut,in construingan Act similarto our Unem- ploymentCompensationAct, statedas follows:
"The plaintifffiled a