SANDRA RICE, Employee

WISCONSIN LUTHERAN CHILD & FAMILY SERVICE INC, Employer

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 makes the following:

The issue for review is whether the employee had good cause for her failure to appear at the hearing scheduled for October 14, 2002, within the meaning of Wis. Stat. § 108.09(4)(d). Good cause encompasses to circumstances which are beyond the individual's control, which are substantial or which otherwise prevent or make it unreasonable for the individual to appear. The commission recognizes that good cause may include excusable neglect or the neglect of an otherwise prudent person.

On September 28, 2002, the department mailed the employee a hearing notice informing her that a hearing was scheduled for Monday, October 14, 2002, at 2:45 p.m. The employee failed to appear. She states in her petition that her mail was going to a post box in Milwaukee, and she moved to Waukesha and had her mail changed. She states that she received the hearing notice at 3:30 p.m. on October 14. The employee asserts, essentially, that she had her mail forwarded and that there was a delay in her receipt of the mail because of the forwarding.

The issue is whether this constitutes good cause for failing to appear. In Richard C. Bertrand Jr. v. Cops Constructions Inc. (Commission Decision November 20, 2001), the commission found that filling out a change of address form with the post office was a reasonable step the employer took to ensure it would receive its mail. Thus, the commission concluded that the employer was not at fault in failing to question the employee's eligibility on a department form.

While it would have been better had the employee given the department her new address, the employee's actions in changing her address with the post office should have resulted in the timely receipt of her mail.

Applying the good cause standard defined above, the commission concludes that the employee's failure to appear was with good cause.

The commission therefore finds that the employee's failure to appear at the scheduled October 14, 2002, hearing in this matter, was with good cause within the meaning of Wis. Stat. § 108.09(4)(d) and Wis. Admin. Code ch. DWD 140.

The decision of the administrative law judge is reversed. Accordingly, the matter is remanded for a new hearing and decision on the merits.

Dated and mailed February 6, 2003
ricesa2 . urr : 145 : 1  PC 712.1 

/s/ David B. Falstad, Chairman

/s/ James A. Rutkowski, Commissioner

cc: Attorney John C. Patzke

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uploaded 2003/02/14