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

DAWN J WACKER, Employee

VETERANS AFFAIRS, Employer

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE DECISION
Hearing No. 10004384MD


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 determination remains in effect.

Dated and mailed September 17, 2010
wackeda . usd : 115 : 1 PC 711

/s/ James T. Flynn, Chairperson

/s/ Robert Glaser, Commissioner

/s/ Ann L. Crump, Commissioner

MEMORANDUM OPINION


A department determination finding that the employee had been discharged for misconduct was dated and mailed on July 7, 2010, and stated on its face that it would become final unless a written appeal was postmarked or received by July 21, 2010.

The employee's appeal was postmarked on July 23, 2010, and received by the department on July 26, 2010.

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). It was certainly within the employee's control to read the determination when she received it and to note the appeal deadline. See, Thelen v. Toms Quality Millwork, Inc, UI Hearing No. 99003677MD (LIRC Dec. 22, 1999).

The employee explains that she attempted to file her appeal online on July 21, 2010, but the filing was not successfully completed, so the employee printed out the online form and mailed it to the department as her appeal.

This printout/appeal shows that the employee incorrectly entered the "Determination Date" as "07/07/10" even though the instructions state that the date was to be entered in the form "mm/dd/yyyy." As a result of this error, the words "Invalid Date" appear in red next to the employee's Determination Date entry.

It was within the employee's control to carefully read the instructions on the form and to note the caution in red that she had entered an invalid date.

It was also within the employee's control, once she realized that her online filing had not been successfully completed, to review the information contained in the determination and to file her appeal in one of the other forms specified there, e.g., by facsimile transmission or by first-class mail.

The employee has failed to offer a reason which, if proved, would provide a reason beyond her control for her untimely appeal of the department determination.



[ Search UC Decisions ] - [ UC Digest - Main Index ] - [ UC Legal Resources ] - [ LIRC Home Page ]


uploaded 2010/11/02