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


MARCEL A VAN CAMP, Employe

MOERSCHEL BUILDERS INC, Employer

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE DECISION
Hearing No. 99400339AP


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 employe is eligible for benefits beginning in week 2 of 1999, if otherwise qualified.

Dated and mailed July 16, 1999
vancamp.usd : 105 : 2 VL 1080.266

/s/ David B. Falstad, Chairman

Pamela I. Anderson, Commissioner

/s/ James A. Rutkowski, Commissioner

MEMORANDUM OPINION

The employer asserts in the petition for review that it was only coincidence that the employe had worked, throughout his employment, in or near the Waupaca area. It may have been coincidence, however, but that was the nature of the employe's work for the employer. The employe also testified, unrebutted, that at the time of hire he was not told there would be projects involving travel hours away. Further, the employer himself conceded that the employer was going into a new aspect of business when it went state-wide with its rough framing work. These factors all lead to the conclusion that the employment relationship between the employe and employer changed significantly at that point, to the employe's substantial detriment. The detriment also was easily ascertainable. The employe had been receiving $15.50 per hour for an 8-hour day. The assignment the employe refused translated to $11.17 per hour for a 12-hour day.

The employer also asserts that requiring employers to compensate employes for travel puts small businesses at an unfair disadvantage. There may be several factors which put smaller businesses at a disadvantage when compared with larger businesses, such as efficiencies due to large scale, but that is simply a cost of doing business. The Wisconsin Administrative Code specifically states that time spent by an employe in travel as part of the employe's principal activity must be counted as hours worked. See Wis. Admin. Code § DWD 272.12(2)(g)5. For these reasons, and those stated in the appeal tribunal decision, the commission agrees that the employe had good cause to quit his employment.


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