Court Opinion

ID: 9819131
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-01 06:18:47.979676+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:42:11.204741
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE THOMAS, specially concurring: Although I agree that the members of Engineers’ Union were ineligible for unemployment compensation benefits, that is not why I join in the decision to reverse the judgments below. Instead, my decision to reverse is based upon Engineers’ Union’s lack of standing to appeal the Director’s decision. It is well established that “the right to review such administrative decisions is limited to parties of record before the administrative agency whose rights, duties or privileges were adversely affected by the decision.” (Emphasis added.) Williams v. Department of Labor, 76 Ill. 2d 72, 78 (1979). This principle is particularly compelling in this case, where the relevant statutes and regulations specifically define who may appear as a party before the Department and who may appeal from that agency’s decisions. Administrative regulations have the force and effect of law and are construed according to the same standards that govern the construction of statutes. Union Electric Co. v. Department of Revenue, 136 Ill. 2d 385, 391 (1990). The fundamental rule of statutory construction is to ascertain and give effect to the legislature’s intent. Michigan Avenue National Bank v. County of Cook, 191 Ill. 2d 493, 503-04 (2000). The best indication of legislative intent is the statutory language, given its plain and ordinary meaning. Illinois Graphics Co. v. Nickum, 159 Ill. 2d 469, 479 (1994). Where the language is clear and unambiguous, we must apply the statute without resort to further aids of statutory construction. Davis v. Toshiba Machine Co., America, 186 Ill. 2d 181, 184-85 (1999). Under both the Unemployment Insurance Act and the Administrative Review Law, only a party to the administrative proceeding may seek judicial review of the Director’s decision. Section 1100 of the Unemployment Insurance Act states that “[a]ny decision of the Board of Review (or of the Director in cases of decisions made pursuant to Sections 800 and 801) shall be reviewable only under and in accordance with the provisions of the Administrative Review Law, provided that judicial review thereof shall be permitted only after any party claiming to be aggrieved thereby has exhausted his administrative remedies as provided by this Act.” (Emphasis added.) 820 ILCS 405/1100 (West 2002). The Administrative Review Law, in turn, defines “administrative decision” as “any decision, order or determination of any administrative agency rendered in a particular case, which affects the legal rights, duties or privileges of parties and which terminates the proceedings before the administrative agency.” (Emphasis added.) 735 ILCS 5/3 — 101 (West 2002). That judicial review is specifically limited to parties is significant, as the Illinois Administrative Code specifically defines “party,” for purposes of the Unemployment Insurance Act, as “the claimant and any employing unit which files a timely and sufficient protest.” 56 Ill. Adm. Code § 2720.1 (2002). If the right to seek judicial review is limited to parties, and the definition of “party” is limited to claimants and employing units, then it is necessarily true that judicial review is limited to claimants and employing units who actually appeared before the Department. Here, there is no dispute that Engineers’ Union did not appear as a party before the Department. As importantly, Engineers’ Union could not have appeared as party before the Department, as it is neither a claimant nor an employing unit. Accordingly, under both this court’s decision in Williams and the relevant statutes and regulations, Engineers’ Union had no standing to appeal the Director’s decision. The judgments below must therefore be reversed. That said, I wish to emphasize that I express no opinion on the doctrine of collective standing per se, which may or may not deserve a place in Illinois law. My position is simply that the doctrine has no place in this particular context.