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


JOAN M DAVIS, Employe

STAFF LINK INC, Employer

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE DECISION
Hearing No. 00603332MW


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, a hearing to take testimony on the merits will be scheduled as soon as possible.

Dated and mailed June 26, 2000
davisjo.usd : 105 : 7  PC 711

/s/ David B. Falstad, Chairman

Pamela I. Anderson, Commissioner

/s/ James A. Rutkowski, Commissioner

MEMORANDUM OPINION

The commission has affirmed the appeal tribunal decision in this case, because it fully agrees with the administrative law judge that the employer filed its request for hearing in a timely manner. The employe argues on appeal that the employer conceded that she did not attempt to fax the request for hearing until after the unemployment insurance offices were closed on April 11th. The commission's policy regarding appeals by facsimile transmission, though, is that they are allowed until midnight on the last day of the appeal period. The employer's faxing of an appeal at approximately 7 p.m. on the last day of an appeal period, therefore, is timely.

The employe next points to the employer's admission that she sent the fax to the Milwaukee Benefits Center, and not to the Milwaukee Hearing Office. Looking at the reverse side of an initial determination, that mistake is perfectly understandable. The fax number for the Milwaukee Benefits Center is very close to the heading "How to File an Appeal." In addition, the Milwaukee Benefits Center is a branch in the Department of Workforce Development's Unemployment Insurance Division.

For these reasons, and those stated in the appeal tribunal decision, the commission has affirmed that decision.

NOTE: The employe has indicated, in her petition for review, that she is bedridden, with a herniated disc and pinched nerve in her back, that she does not believe she should have to appear in person at a hearing which the employer is not even entitled to. Under these circumstances, the hearing office is to give the employe the option of appearing by telephone at the hearing on the merits.


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