Court Opinion

ID: 9730582
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 15:16:51.629434+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:07.621790
License: Public Domain

HAROLD L. LOWENSTEIN, Judge,
concurring.
Because of the statutory language there can be no quarrel with the result reached here today. Roberts v. Labor and Industrial Relations Commission, 869 S.W.2d 139 (Mo.App.1993). The result thus mandated, however, is totally devoid of any concept of fairness. This citizen is not guilty of any nondisclosure or misrepresentation of a material fact. She was not initially disqualified from benefits by a deputy of the division which oversees payments from the fund. She went to a law library and hammered out briefs to counteract subsequent decisions.
The legislature can easily correct situations such as this one where there has been no connivance on the part of the employee by deleting the word “shall” in the last line of Section 288.381.1 and inserting the word “may.” Such a simple enactment would bring a measure of compassion and discretion to cases such as this one, and would not bankrupt the fund.