Opinion ID: 2834302
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Adjudication of Disputed Facts

Text: TWC’s written order plainly resolved disputed facts and determined that Igal’s claim for unpaid wages was without merit. The dissent contends that because TWC argues in this Court that it dismissed the claim on procedural grounds, we cannot hold that the decision was anything more than a procedural dismissal for untimeliness . There are at least two answers to that argument. First, the dissent shortchanges TWC’s argument. TWC asserts that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction over Igal’s late-filed claim. We have already held to the contrary, and the dissent agrees that TWC is wrong on this point. Second, TWC adjudicated more than just the timeliness issue in its Payday Law decision. In the order of its appeal tribune, TWC made findings of fact: Although the claimant did not receive a document from either entity which states “your agreement is not being renewed”, the claimant was notified in writing that his group was being dissolved and he was no longer performing services for the named businesses. The Commission considers this sufficient notice that the agreement was not being renewed. The claimant was paid through the end of the last contract period, April, 1999-April, 2000. Since the claimant remained on the payroll with the named businesses through the end of the contract period, he is considered “employed” by the named businesses through the end of the contract period. The agreement expired. The claimant’s employment ended when the contract ended. He was not “terminated without cause” as provided in the agreement and, therefore, is not entitled to the various payments which may have become due under the agreement if his employment had been terminated without cause. Consequently, there is no extension of compensation owed to the claimant beyond the expiration of the agreement in April 2000. The Commissions’ jurisdiction extends back only 180 days from the filing of the wage claim. Any pay owed to the claimant would have been due well before the beginning of the Commission’s jurisdiction in this case. Therefore, the wage claim was not timely filed and is dismissed. TWC decided the key questions of fact in dispute in Igal’s payday claim: when Igal’s employment contract expired, that he had sufficient notice that the contract was not being renewed, that he was not terminated without cause, and that he was not entitled to any additional compensation. The dissent correctly concludes that “the Commission had to decide whether he was terminated for cause or nonrenewal ” as a prerequisite to deciding whether Igal’s claim was timely. __ S.W. 3d. __, __. Yet the dissent maintains that these necessary findings of fact did not go to the merits of Igal’s claim. Id. Regardless of their purpose, however, these findings were determinations made by a competent tribunal vested with judicial authority to make those decisions after an adequate opportunity to air the issue. As the Court decides that the filing limitations period was not a jurisdictional prerequisite, TWC’s order that Igal was not entitled to additional compensation could stand on its own feet as a final judgment. The suggestion that findings of fact that were necessary to a final judgment should not be accorded res judicata effect would be quite a departure from established jurisprudence. Claim preclusion is accorded to all claims that have been finally adjudicated or that could have been finally adjudicated in the prior litigation that arise from the same transaction. Barr , 837 S.W.2d at 628 . Moreover, the dissent’s assertion that TWC’s merits determination was “an advisory opinion” misconstrues the term, as even the dissent concedes that it was necessary for TWC to answer the merits question as a condition to concluding the claim was untimely.