Court Opinion

ID: 9716118
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 06:27:34.358442+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:21:47.648490
License: Public Domain

*186Webber, J.
(Dissenting)
I reach a contrary result on the undisputed facts. In my view this claimant made herself available for work within the meaning of the statute but was never actually offered employment which she refused. I take it that no one questions that this claimant or any employee not under special contract for a fixed term could leave a job at any time in order to accept other employment. This is an absolute right which this claimant possessed. She could have accepted a job offer at Belgrade knowing that the offer was available only to persons who intended to remain until laid off and she could at the same time have harbored the secret intention of leaving the job the minute a better opportunity presented itself. In effect she would then have been deceiving Belgrade by her silence. I cannot agree that the statute requires deception from one who would qualify for benefits. All that she did was to announce candidly and honestly her intention to retain and exercise the right to leave the job for a better position when and if such a position became available. On the other hand, all that Belgrade had available for her was conditional employment, the condition being that she forfeit or agree not to exercise her right to accept a better job offer. Belgrade had a perfect right to limit its employment opportunities and to hire only persons interested in contracting for a long term, but in so doing it did not make the claimant the kind of an offer that the statute required that she accept. There is no suggestion in the evidence that if an unconditional offer of employment had been made, the claimant would have rejected it. Obviously, if she had done so, she would have forfeited her right to benefits. This is not a case in which the claimant is herself improperly attaching conditions to her acceptance of an unconditional offer of employment. Neither is there any question of her good faith.
*187In Reger v. Administrator (1946), 132 Conn. 647, 46 A. (2nd) 844, the claimant was the wife of a serviceman and there was uncertainty as to the length of time she would remain in the area. Many employers were unwilling to offer her employment for this reason. The court said at page 846:
“The other phase of the question is concerned with the reliance placed by the commissioner in his decision upon the fact of the impermanence of the plaintiff’s stay in Ozark. This involves the effect of a person’s inability to get work owing to the unwillingness of employers to hire her because of the probable transient or temporary nature of her sojourn in the community, a reason not inherent in the general labor situation. ‘Where employers refuse or are reluctant to hire an individual, suitable job opportunities which the individual is qualified to perform and which he is able, willing, and ready to accept may nonetheless exist. Such refusal to hire a worker does not of itself render the work usuitable or prevent him from legally performing the work. Accordingly, refusal of employers to hire married women * * * , individuals beyond a certain age * * * , or members of minority groups * * * , should not render unavailable individuals in any of such groups who are otherwise available. * * * While employers, for what they think is in their best interests, or for any reason, may refuse to hire any worker, such refusal should not affect the availability of workers whom they refuse to hire, unless such refusal is required by law.’ Freeman, 55 Yale L.J. 123, 133. That employers would not employ servicemen’s wives because of the uncertainty of the length of time they would remain in the area was not a material factor in determining whether the plaintiff was available for work.”
I recognize but am not persuaded by a series of cases decided in Pennsylvania in which benefits were refused be*188cause the claimant would not agree to continue the employment if there should be a later recall by a former employer. The court felt that this was indicative of bad faith on the part of the claimant. Baker v. Unemployment Comp. Bd. of Review (1960), 193 Pa. Super. 460, 165 A. (2nd) 103; Trabold v. Unemployment Comp. Bd. of Review (1960), 191 Pa. Super. 485, 159 A. (2nd) 272.
In the instant case, if Belgrade had offered the claimant employment provided she would execute a written contract to continue in that employment for at least five years unless sooner discharged or laid off by the company, I doubt if it would be seriously contended that a refusal to accept the employment on those terms would bar the claimant from benefits. I see no difference in principle. Although no fixed term was involved, it is apparent that Belgrade was at the moment only interested in hiring persons who would commit themselves in advance to long term employment. This claimant did not belong to the class of employees for whom Belgrade had jobs available at that time. It is for that reason that no offer of employment was made to her which she could either accept or reject. I would sustain the appeal.
Tapley, J., joins in this opinion.