Court Opinion

ID: 9758405
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 23:28:47.089184+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:51.059264
License: Public Domain

DISSENTING OPINION BY
Judge McGINLEY.
I respectfully dissent to the majority’s conclusion that “Claimant’s unemployment compensation benefit should have been offset by his retirement income” because Claimant’s pension does not fall “within the narrow exception in Section 404(d)(2)(iii) [43 P.S. § 804(d)(2)(iii)] for pensions that cannot be offset against unemployment compensation.”1
The majority correctly notes that under the exception “[t]he question of the deduc-tibility of Claimant’s pension benefit hinges on whether Claimant’s employment during the base year resulted in an increase in the amount of his pension.” Majority Opinion at 260. The majority then found that “Claimant’s decision to work during the base year period increased the amount of his base pension” in contravention to the narrow exception in Section 404(d)(2)(iii). Majority Opinion at 260.
Nevertheless, the majority improperly considered Claimant’s pension status after he reaches 62 and misconstrued the immediacy of Claimant’s base pension increase. The majority explained that once Claimant reaches age 62 his early retirement supplemental payment will cease and Claimant’s total monthly benefit “will be higher because of the additional year of credited service he accrued by working during the base year.” Majority Opinion at 261. The majority acknowledged that the “increase in Claimant’s base pension is not immedi*264ately apparent ... because of the equalizing effect of the early retirement supplement.” Majority Opinion at 261 (emphasis added). This Court added that, “[njever-theless, the increase in Claimant’s base pension is real, and it will become apparent when he reaches the age of 62 and one month.”
I disagree with the majority’s conclusion that High v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 505 Pa. 379, 388, 479 A.2d 967, 969 (1984) is not dispositive on the issue. In High, the Supreme Court held that “each week of unemployment is the subject of a separate claim, the validity of which is determined by a consideration of conditions existing within that week” for which benefits were claimed. Attenberger v. Unemployment Compensation Bd. of Review, 682 A.2d 68 n. 3 (Pa.Cmwlth.1996). Under High, Claimants unemployment benefits must be determined on a week-by-week basis which would preclude this Court from looking at any increase in Claimants base pension that might become apparent after he reaches the age of 62. Instead, the conditions that existed here were such that Claimant immediately began receiving a total monthly pension in the amount of $2,950 beginning August 1, 2006, which necessitates a determination of unemployment compensation benefit on that basis.
Furthermore, I disagree with the majority that Claimant’s employment during the base year resulted in an increase in the amount of his pension. Majority opinion at 260-61. The majority emphasized an increase to the amount of Claimant’s base pension as demonstrated by a series of calculations. Majority Opinion at 260-61. Section 404(d)(2)(iii), however, requires this Court to determine whether services performed by Claimant during the base period affected or increased “the amount of [his] pension, retirement or retired pay, annuity or similar payment.”
The majority opinion appropriately recognized that “regardless of when Claimant retired during the base year, his total monthly pension would have [amounted] to $2,950” since it was a guaranteed amount governed by the Supplemental Pension Agreement between Employer and the United Auto Workers Union. Majority Opinion at 260-61. The amount of Claimant’s monthly pension benefit did not increase during the base year period because it was a pre-determined amount unaffected by services performed by the Claimant throughout the base period. As such, Claimants total monthly pension falls within the exception of pensions that cannot be offset against unemployment compensation.
Accordingly, the Board properly applied the exception in determining that “Claimant’s unemployment compensation benefit was not subject to the offset because Claimant’s work during the base-year period ... did not affect [or increase] the amount he received immediately upon retirement, i e., $2,950.” Majority Opinion at 258-59 (emphasis added). Therefore, Claimant is entitled to unreduced unemployment compensation benefits because his pension cannot be offset against the same pursuant to the exception in Section 404(d) (2)(iii).
Accordingly, I would affirm the Board’s decision.

. Under the exception in Section 404(d)(2)(iii), no offset is permitted where a claimant’s work during the base year period does not increase the claimant’s pension benefit.