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


JOHN L WEGMAN, Employe

WEGMAN CONSTRUCTION INC, Employer

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE DECISION
Hearing No. 00000109LX


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's base period wages shall be limited to a maximum of ten times the weekly benefit rate based solely on employment with this employer.

Dated and mailed March 14, 2000
wegmajo.usd : 105 : 2  ET 491

/s/ David B. Falstad, Chairman

/s/ Pamela I. Anderson, Commissioner

/s/ James A. Rutkowski, Commissioner


MEMORANDUM OPINION

The commission is sympathetic to the employe's circumstances but, under the clear reading of the relevant statute, his unemployment insurance is limited. The statute is Wis. Stat. § 108.04(1)(g)2, which limits an individual's unemployment insurance entitlement based upon employment by a corporation, if half or more of the ownership interest is or during such employment was owned or controlled by the individual. This limitation covers two separate time frames: the present, that is, the time during which the individual files a claim for unemployment insurance; and the base period. It thus is not the case that the employe would have been eligible for full unemployment insurance had the transfer of the ownership interest of the corporation from his father to him been delayed by a few weeks. The employe's ownership interest in the corporation as of the time of his application for unemployment insurance also is fatal to his claim for full benefits. The commission understands that the employe's circumstances may not be those to which the statute was specifically directed, when the legislature enacted it. The employe's circumstances still fall expressly within the language of the statute, however, so the commission must apply it to those circumstances.


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