Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Commission --
Summary of Wisconsin Court Decision relating to Unemployment Insurance

Subject: Mark Campbell-Tucek (Hrg. No. 96601392MW) v. LIRC and A. T. Products, Case No. 97 CV 1769 (Wis. Cir. Ct., Waukesha Co., June 3, 1998)

Digest Codes:  SW 844   SW 845

Several weeks after being laid off by his employer, the employe was contacted by the employer about coming back to work. After some discussions with the employer about health insurance and other terms, the employe refused to return to work. Reversing the ALJ, the commission held that he had refused an offer of work under 108.04(8)(a) without good cause, and that the work offered was not "substantially less favorable" than similar work in the labor market under 108.04(9). The employe appealed, arguing that the employer had never actually made an offer of work that was sufficiently definite as to the terms of the employment, and arguing in the alternative that the employment offered was "substantially less favorable" than similar work in the labor market under 108.04(9).

Held: Affirmed. Substantial evidence supports the findings that the employer did offer the employe the same job he had done before, at the same salary, and with the prospect of entering into discussions about the possibility of additional insurance- related benefits. The record also supports the finding that the employe, who was dissatisfied with what was offered in terms of insurance, rejected the offer.

Turning to the labor market testimony, the court observes that the job was not easily classified by one job title; the labor market analyst had to classify it as a combination of jobs and evaluate the wage ranges for each. The pay offered was above the lowest quartile for all of those other job classifications except for machine erector, but the duties of the offered job which resembled machine erector work accounted for only 15% of the job, and should be weighted accordingly.

Please note that this is a summary prepared by staff of the commission, not a verbatim reproduction of the court decision.

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