Opinion ID: 2034338
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Effect of the Delay in Imposing the Disqualification.

Text: The first issue argued involves the consequence, if any, of the timing of petitioner's disqualification. Petitioner contends that consideration by the agency of the protest of Jerry Shields Construction based on petitioner's job refusal was improper when that protest was not made known to the agency until more than five months after the job refusal was claimed to have occurred. Petitioner asserts that such action by the agency is a denial of equal protection and due process; in excess of the agency's statutory authority; and arbitrary and capricious agency action. We consider these claims separately. A. Due process and equal protection claims. The petitioner asserts a violation of both the due process and equal protection clauses of the fourteenth amendment occurred as a result of the challenged agency action. The principles which we recognized in Salsbury Laboratories v. Iowa Department of Environmental Quality, 276 N.W.2d 830, 835-37 (Iowa 1979) will perhaps excuse the failure to raise these constitutional claims before the agency. There appears to be no basis, however, to excuse petitioner's failure to raise these constitutional issues in the district court. Our scope of review is to correct errors of law made by that court. Caterpillar Davenport Employees Credit Union v. Huston, 292 N.W.2d 393, 395 (Iowa 1980). The district court cannot have erred with respect to an issue which was not before it. The petition for judicial review, as amended, did not present the constitutional claim now urged, and we may not consider it for the first time on appeal. B. Exceeding statutory authority. Petitioner also claims that the alleged untimely consideration of the June 20, 1980, job refusal as a basis for disqualifying him from unemployment benefits was outside the agency's statutory authority. In his brief, he ties this argument to Iowa Code section 96.6(2) which provides: A representative designated by the director shall promptly notify all interested parties to the claim of the filing thereof, and said parties shall have ten days from the date of mailing the notice of the filing of said claim by ordinary mail to the last known address to protest payment of benefits to claimant. In response to this argument, the agency contends that this statute does not apply to circumstances arising after an original allowance of benefits which serve to disqualify a claimant from future eligibility for benefits. As to acts of the latter type, the agency contends that the statutes provide no time limitation within which it must act in order to impose disqualification. We agree with the agency's contention that the time limitation specified in section 96.6(2) does not apply to acts of disqualification which occur after the original notice of claim and allowance thereof. Because the petitioner has failed to identify any other statute which proscribes the challenged agency action on the basis of untimeliness, we decline to grant relief on his claim that the agency acted in contravention of its statutory authority. C. Arbitrary and capricious action. Finally, we consider the petitioner's argument that the untimely manner in which disqualification was imposed in the present case constituted arbitrary and capricious action by the agency. Arbitrary and capricious agency action may be the subject of judicial relief pursuant to Iowa Code section 17A.19(4)(g). In the present case, petitioner's challenge to the agency's handling of his disqualification from benefits is based entirely on the delay between the time the alleged refusal of suitable work occurred and the time the disqualification was imposed. Pursuant to 370 Iowa Administrative Code section 4.11(6)(a), the petitioner was required to periodically provide eligibility review forms to the agency which would identify refusal of employment if any occurred. The petitioner did not bring the June 20, 1980 incident to the attention of the agency by means of these eligibility review forms. In determining whether the action of the agency was arbitrary and capricious, we must consider when the material information bearing upon petitioner's continued eligibility for benefits came to the agency's attention. Nothing in the record indicates that this occurred prior to December 1, 1980. The agency acted promptly to process the contested case proceeding thereafter. Because petitioner has identified no time fixed by statute or agency rule within which disqualification must be imposed under such circumstances, we find no basis upon which to conclude that the agency acted arbitrarily or capriciously in acting upon those facts before it which indicated that disqualification was mandated by the appropriate statutes.