RANDALL A FIKE, Employee
LEATHEM SMITH LODGE CORPORATION
OF DOOR COUNTY, Employer
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 makes the following:
The employer failed to appear at the hearing because the owner mismarked the calendar. The owner noted on his calendar that the hearing was Wednesday, June 8, 2005, when the hearing was actually on Tuesday, June 7, 2005. For nearly 50 years the commission has generally held that such mismarking of a calendar constitutes good cause for failing to appear. (1) This is particularly true when there is a rationale for the mismarking. Here the employer wrote on the day adjacent to the actual day of the hearing. The commission has held that such failures fall within the scope of excusable neglect which constitutes good cause for failing to appear.
The commission therefore finds that the employer/appellant failed to appear at a hearing scheduled for June 7, 2005, but that such failure was with good cause within the meaning of Wis. Stat. § 108.09(4) and Wis. Admin. Code § DWD 140.
The decision of the administrative law judge is reversed. Accordingly, the employer/appellant's request for hearing is not dismissed. This matter is remanded to the hearing office for a hearing and decision on the merits of the case.
Dated and mailed November 4, 2005
fikeran . urr : 132 : 1 : PC 712.2
/s/ James T. Flynn, Chairman
/s/ David B. Falstad, Commissioner
/s/ Robert Glaser, Commissioner
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