Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Commission --
Summary of Wisconsin Court Decision relating to Unemployment Insurance

Subject: David Wiley v. LIRC and Innovations Rehab, S.C., Case 00-CV-737 (Wis. Cir. Ct., La Crosse Co., November 6, 2001)

Digest Codes: VL 1059.07  PC 732 LIRC 

The employee, who worked as a physical therapist for the employer, a rehabilitation business, quit his job because he was dissatisfied with the employer's method of computing his compensation, and because of dissatisfaction with the employer's degree of control over his work. The employee alleged that the employer was illegally deducting the amount of required unemployment compensation taxes (and other payroll taxes) from his pay. The employer asserted that the employee was paid according to a system which had been described to the employees when the employer took over from a former owner of the business, which was that 80% of revenues generated by employees' services would be committed to payroll expenses. The employee contended that it had been agreed, that the 80% share would be committed to employee salaries, so that the required employer-paid tax contributions would have to come out of the 20% which the employer retained. The ALJ found that the employer's evidence was more credible in terms of what the understanding and agreement had been, and that the arrangement did not constitute an improper deduction of employer payroll taxes; the ALJ also found that the employer's controls on the employee's employment were reasonable. Therefore, there was no good cause attributable to the employer for the employee's quitting. LIRC affirmed.

Held: Affirmed. The evidence found credible by the ALJ and LIRC does not support the employee's position. The Court rejects the employee's argument that the decision was "procured by fraud" because of an allegedly altered exhibit or because the ALJ allegedly considered matters outside of the record; the "alterations" the employee pointed to in the exhibit were not material, and the record does not support the charge that the ALJ considered matters outside of the record. LIRC also did not err in relying on a synopsis rather than a transcript, as this is allowed under the statute and the employee did not demonstrate that the synopsis was insufficient. Finally, the Court agrees that the employer's controls over such matters as the employee's arrival time at work, telephone accessibility, and coverage during absences, was not such as to give him "good cause" to quit.

Please note that this is a summary prepared by staff of the commission, not a verbatim reproduction of the court decision.

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uploaded 2001/11/13