Opinion ID: 2125839
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: Wadkins was employed by Americana Shopping Carts, Inc. (Americana), a company that, by its own description, maintains a nationwide fleet of mobile maintenance units that provide cleaning and repair of shopping carts and other retail sales equipment. Wadkins was a maintenance supervisor, whose duties involved traveling to Americana's customers to repair their shopping carts. While Wadkins was visiting those customers, he also sold them carts and cart-related products such as spare parts and seatbelts. Wadkins earned a 5-percent commission on such sales. The Job Description and Requirements for Wadkins' position explained that his salary was based on a 260-day work year and that comp time was awarded on a one-to-one basis for each day an employee worked over 260 days. Wadkins' regular pay, not including commissions, was $480.77 per week. Wadkins was laid off because of a temporary work slow down, effective December 11, 2004. Wadkins filed a claim for unemployment insurance benefits. During the time period at issue, between January 22 and March 5, 2005, Wadkins was paid unemployment insurance benefits of $288 per week. Wadkins was also being paid by Americana during that period. Americana paid Wadkins $480.77 per week except for the weeks of January 22, during which Wadkins was paid $508.55; January 29, during which Wadkins was paid $537.21; and February 12, during which Wadkins was paid $288.48. Wadkins was apparently recalled to work for Americana on March 8. Wadkins testified that the money he was paid by Americana after he was laid off was money earned before he was laid off, by working Saturdays and Sundays during the prior year. Wadkins described that time as comp time, and explained that when he was off work, the company paid him for his comp time on a weekly basis. Wadkins asserted that he had not worked or earned wages while he was receiving unemployment insurance benefits. Wadkins also explained that commissions on sales orders were not paid immediately, but were paid when the sales orders were shipped. Wadkins said that Americana's payments for the weeks ending January 22 and January 29, 2005, included some of his sales commissions. Following a wage audit, the Department of Labor (the Department) concluded that Wadkins' payments from Americana were unreported earnings and that Wadkins had been overpaid $2,016 in unemployment insurance benefits. Wadkins appealed, and the Nebraska Appeal Tribunal affirmed the judgment. The appeal tribunal accepted Wadkins' explanation of the payments, but determined that [t]he amounts were at the time [Wadkins] received them `determinable' and[/]or vacation pay, and therefore disqualifying compensation that exceeded his weekly benefit amount. [2] Wadkins appealed the appeal tribunal's determination, pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act. [3] The district court concluded that comp time payments were considered earnings when they became payable and found that Wadkins' comp time only became payable on a day-to-day basis during his layoff. The district court affirmed the decision of the appeal tribunal.