Court Opinion

ID: 9754072
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 19:42:18.619426+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:55:34.927481
License: Public Domain

CONCURRING OPINION BY
Judge COHN JUBELIRER.
Although I agree with the majority’s conclusion that the Board erred in finding William R. Risse (Claimant) ineligible, I do so for a different reason, and I respectfully disagree with the rationale offered by the majority. I believe that the majority establishes a new standard for determining whether there has been a substantial change in sideline activity under Section 402(h) of the Unemployment Compensa*83tion Law,1 43 P.S. § 802(h). This section provides that a claimant will be ineligible for benefits for any week “[i]n which he is engaged in self-employment: Provided, however, That an employe who is able and available for full-time work shall be deemed not engaged in self-employment by reason of continued participation without substantial change during a period of unemployment in any activity.” 43 P.S. § 802(h). The majority’s statement that “[t]o make out then that a sideline activity has changed, Claimant has to show that his sideline activity was not in the process of transitioning to full-time employment!,]” Risse v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 35 A.3d 79, 82 (Pa.Cmwlth.2012), appears to announce a new test for Section 402(h) that, I believe, is not entirely consistent with the plain language of Section 402(h) or the current state of the law.
However, I do not agree with the Board’s sole reliance on the difference in Claimant’s gross earnings between 2009 and 2010 to determine that there was a substantial change in Claimant’s sideline business. I note that the record contains tax documents for Claimant’s sideline activity from 2004 and 2006 that reveal that his gross earnings from those years were $15,447 and $9,020, respectively. (Schedule Cs for 2004 and 2006, R. Item 3.) Moreover, Claimant testified that his activity in 2010 was consistent with his past work for his sideline activity. (Referee Hr’g Tr. at 9, 11.) Claimant’s gross earnings of $8,000 in 2010 are consistent with his earnings from his sideline activity in earlier years, notably 2004 and 2006, and appear to make Claimant’s 2009 gross earnings of $3,750 the outlier, rather than the yardstick by which his sideline activity should be measured. In other words I believe that, where there is evidence of multi-year earnings, the Board should not just consider, as it did here, the year immediately preceding the year in question to determine whether a substantial change has occurred. Additionally, the Board argues in its brief that the number of hours Claimant worked between 2009 and 2010 necessarily had to double because his gross earnings doubled and he did not raise his rates. (Board’s Br. at 9-10.) Applying the Board’s rationale it would appear, when considering all of the evidence in the record, which the Board did not, that Claimant’s work hours for his sideline activity historically were higher than those in 2009 and 2010. Claimant also testified that his work for the sideline activity occurred almost exclusively in the evenings or at night and that he averaged ten hours per week when he had a marketing job. (Referee Hr’g Tr. at 11.) Given all of these factors, I would conclude that the Board erred in finding Claimant ineligible based solely on the increase of earnings between 2009 and 2010.

. Act of December 5, 1936, Second Ex.Sess., P.L. (1937) 2897, as amended.