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


MARK C HOFFMAN, Employe

THOMAS P OETTINGER, Employe

APPLIED CORROSION CONTROL INC, Employer

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE DECISION
Hearing No. 99001960WUG


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 employes' base period wages shall be limited to a maximum of ten times the weekly benefit rate based solely on employment by their employer.

Dated and mailed August 20, 1999
hoffmma.usd : 105 : 2   ET 491

/s/ David B. Falstad, Chairman

/s/ Pamela I. Anderson, Commissioner

/s/ James A. Rutkowski, Commissioner

MEMORANDUM OPINION

The enactment of Wis. Stat. § 108.04(1)(gm) is a policy determination by the legislature that unemployment insurance should not be used to provide a safety net for business failure in a family corporation. On the other hand, it is recognized that closing a business may be the only choice available under certain circumstances. The appellants argue that they meets one of those circumstances, "involuntary cessation of business," in that more than 75 percent of the corporation's existing assets have been set aside (assigned) for the benefit of creditors. An assignment in terms of the statute is a term of art, however, and does not occur simply upon a decision to use the assets in question for certain debts. The assignment of assets is a legal transaction, with the involvement of a court which decides the assignment. For this reason, the appellants' purported "assignment" of the corporation's assets to tax liabilities, does not constitute an assignment within the meaning of Chapter 108. The commission is not unsympathetic to the appellants' circumstances; nonetheless, the legislature has determined that individuals in their circumstances are not entitled to unemployment insurance.


[Administrative Law Judge's decision]

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