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

JOZEF HANDZEL, Employee

INTERFAITH OLDER ADULT PROGRAMS INC, Employer

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE DECISION
Hearing No. 06603735MW


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 claimant is not eligible for benefits based on the base period wages received for services performed for the employer.

Dated and mailed September 15, 2006
handzjo . usd : 115 : 1   ET 483.10

/s/ James T. Flynn, Chairman

/s/ David B. Falstad, Commissioner

/s/ Robert Glaser, Commissioner

MEMORANDUM OPINION


The employer (Interfaith) is a non-profit corporation organized under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. 26 U.S.C.A. § 501(c)(3). Interfaith receives grant funding through Title V of the federal Older Americans Act, administered in Wisconsin as the Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) by the Department of Health and Family Services, Division of Supportive Living, Bureau of Aging and Long Term Care, to provide job training and experience to qualifying older adults.

Interfaith provides this training, at least in part, by placing qualifying older adults in senior internships in existing nonprofit businesses, and paying the interns for the services they perform for these businesses. These senior internships may last no longer than 18 months.

The claimant was placed by Interfaith in a senior internship as a retail clerk at "The Price is Right," a nonprofit resale store. The claimant was paid minimum wage by Interfaith during this internship and remained there the maximum 18 months, i.e., from September 30, 2003, through March 30, 2005.

The employee was provided a copy of Interfaith's policies as they relate to its senior internship program on July 15, 2004. These policies (exhibit #1) state that the purpose of the program is "to provide useful part-time training experience, and placement service, for low-income individuals aged 55 and older who have poor employment prospects,...and to provide work experience and training to learn skills which are necessary in finding gainful, meaningful employment." The claimant would have been aware as the result of section 6.14 of these policies that he would not be eligible for unemployment benefits based on the services he performed during this senior internship.

In order to be eligible for benefits, a claimant must have performed services for the employer in an "employment," within the meaning of Wis. Stat. § 108.02(15).

Wisconsin Statutes § 108.02(15)(g) states as follows, as relevant here:

(g) "Employment" as applied to work for a...nonprofit organization, except as such...organization duly elects otherwise with the department's approval, does not include service:

1. By an individual receiving work relief or work training as part of an unemployment work-relief or work-training program assisted or financed in whole or in part by any federal agency or an agency of a state or political subdivision thereof, unless otherwise required as a condition for participation by the unit or organization in such program;...

Here, the claimant performed services for pay for a nonprofit (Interfaith) as part of a work training program funded by the federal government and administered by a state agency. These services, as a result, were not performed in a qualifying employment, and, as a result, may not be relied upon by the claimant to qualify for benefits.

cc: Legal Action of Wisconsin, Inc.

 


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