STATE OF WISCONSIN
LABOR AND INDUSTRY REVIEW COMMISSION
P O BOX 8126, MADISON, WI 53708-8126 (608/266-9850)

EUGENIOUS SKRECZKO, Employee

SOUTHWEST METAL FINISHING INC, Employer

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE DECISION
Hearing No. 04602133MW

An administrative law judge (ALJ) for the Division of Unemployment Insurance of the Department of Workforce Development issued a decision in this matter. A timely petition for review was filed.

The commission has considered the petition and the positions of the parties, and it has reviewed the evidence submitted to the ALJ. Based on its review, the commission agrees with the decision of the ALJ, and it adopts the findings and conclusion in that decision as its own.

DECISION

The decision of the administrative law judge is affirmed. Accordingly, the employee's request for hearing is dismissed, and the department's determination remains in effect.

Dated and mailed April 22, 2004
skreceu . usd : 115 : 8  PC 711

/s/ David B. Falstad, Chairman

James T. Flynn, Commissioner

/s/ Robert Glaser, Commissioner

MEMORANDUM OPINION


A department determination denying benefits was dated and mailed on February 3, 2004, and stated on its face in English that it would become final unless a written appeal was postmarked or received by February 17, 2004. The employee's appeal was received on February 20, 2004.

The standard for excusing a failure to timely appeal a department determination is "reason beyond control." This is a very rigorous standard, and only extraordinary reasons have been found by the commission to satisfy it. See, Jerome Kosmoski, UI Hearing No. S9900245MW (LIRC March 22, 2000).

The employee explains that he filed his appeal after the deadline because he does not speak or read English and he did not locate an interpreter until February 19, 2004. However, the commission has consistently held that it is within a party's control to find someone who can translate a department determination for them. See, e.g., Thelen v. Toms Quality Millwork, Inc., UI Hearing No. 99003677MD (LIRC Dec. 22, 1999); In re: Mario Larios, UI Hearing No. 03401809AP (LIRC June 30, 2003). The employee acknowledges in his petition that he was aware of, and had utilized, the department's interpreter/translation services in the past, but fails to explain why he did not do so once he received the department determination at issue here. The employee should have been more diligent in requesting those services, or assistance from others in the community, and his failure to do so does not provide a reason beyond his control for his untimely appeal.

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uploaded 2004/04/26