Opinion ID: 1570708
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Company appealed to the Board of Review, which affirmed the holding of the Appeal Tribunal.

Text: VIII. The Company then appealed to the Pulaski Circuit Court from the opinion of the Board of Review on this procedural matter; the Circuit Court affirmed the Board of Review in its Case No. 42261; and the case is now before us in this consolidated appeal. A careful study of the record and of the statutes convinces us that this case should be affirmed. Section 81-1107(d) (4), (5), (6), and (7) contain the law governing these administrative hearings. The Fitzsimmons hearing mentioned in paragraph numbered III heretofore, was based on the entire record in the case, including the Agency records. In the course of the Fitzsimmons hearing, there arose the question of whether each claimant had established his availability for work. Supervisor Ritchie testified that he handled these fifty-five claims; that determinations were made on all of the claims involved on an individual basis; and that there was no disqualification of any claimant on the issue of availability to work. He testified that the only disqualification was because of voluntarily quitting the work under § 81-1106(a). The record shows that the card of each individual claimant, while not introduced in evidence, was tendered to the Company's attorney at the time of the hearing and that the Company actually called several claimants (Agnew, Handley, and Barnes) to cross-examine them on the question of availability. If the Company had wanted to call all the other claimants it could have done so at that time. The determination by Superintendent Ritchie5 that each of these claimants was available for work beginning November 30th made a prima facie case and the burden of going forward to disprove that case was on the Company. When the Board of Review sent the case back to the Appeal Tribunal it was not necessary to retake the evidence. The entire record of the Fitzsimmons hearing was before the Appeal Tribunal on remand, and the burden was on the Company to go forward to overcome the prima facie case made by the determination of Supervisor Ritchie. We think the better reasoned cases support the following statement contained in the written opinion of the Board of Review in this case: It has been held that a claimant, an unemployed worker in a covered employment, is presumed to be available for work when he registers for work and files a claim for benefits, but such presumption is rebuttable. Mattey v. Unemployment Comp. Bd. of Rev. [164 Pa.Super. 36], 63 A.2d 429; Kelleher v. [Unemployment Compensation] Bd. of Review, [175 Pa.Super. 261], 104 A.2d 171 [41 A.L.R.2d 1155]. According to the authorities in the field, `It is indispensable to proper administration of unemployment insurance laws that the claimant be presumed to be available for work unless cause for doubting that availability appears. [5] Williams, 8 Vanderbilt Law Review, p. 294, [6] citing Altman, Availability for Work, Harvard Univ. Press, 1950, p. 98. Accordingly, the judgment of the Circuit Court in Case No. 42261 is also affirmed.