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


Subject: City of Kenosha v. LIRC and Thomas R. Knight (Hearing No. 98603925RC) Case 99-CV-000085 (Wis. Cir. Ct., Kenosha Co., May 1, 1999)

Digest Codes: MC 676

The employe is a police officer for the City of Kenosha. On 2/2/98, he was placed on suspension with pay and notified that the employer proposed to discharge him for misconduct connected with his duties. The employe protested the action and a hearing was set before the Kenosha Police and Fire Commission. The hearing was held on 4/14/98, and it was determined that the employe should be placed on suspension with pay from 4/15/98 to 6/2/98, before being reinstated. The ALJ and the commission found that the employe had received a disciplinary suspension, pursuant to Wis. Stat. §108.04(6), and that the three-week ineligibility suspension mandated by the statute began with the week immediately following the suspension with pay on 2/2/98. The employer appealed and argued that there was no suspension, for purposes of the statute, until there was a suspension without pay beginning on 4/15/98. The employer argued that the statute could not have been intended to refer to a suspension with pay as a suspension, because this would defeat the disciplinary purpose of the statute.

Held: The statute unambiguously calls for a suspension of eligibility for three weeks beginning with the week after the suspension occurs, or until the suspension is terminated. The statute is clear on its face and its plain meaning must be accepted. The commission is affirmed.

[Commission decision].  Appealed to the Court of Appeals. Affirmed May 3, 2000, sub nom. City of Kenosha v. LIRC and Thomas R. Knight, 2000 WI App 131, 237 Wis.2d 304, 614 N.W. 2d 508.

 


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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