14 Pa. Commw. 546 | Pa. Commw. Ct. | 1974
Opinion by
Paul E. Crumbling, Sr., claimant, last worked as a pneumatic tube installer for Hosier Airmatics System
Claimant applied for unemployment compensation on June 3,1973. The Bureau of Employment Security and a referee ruled claimant ineligible for benefits under Section 402(b) (1) of the Unemployment Compensation Law, Act of December 5,1936, Second Exec. Sess., P. L. (1937) 2897, as amended, 43 P.S. §802(b) (1), because he had voluntarily left Ms employment without necessitous and compelling cause. On appeal, the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review (Board) modified this determination to find claimant disqualified because Ms termination was due to “marital, filial or other domestic obligations” within the purview of Section 402 (b) (2), 43 P.S. §802(b) (2). We agree, and therefore affirm.
In appeals of this nature, where the decision of the Board is against the party with the burden of proof, our review is limited to whether or not the Board’s findings of fact are consistent with each other and with the conclusions and order of the Board, and whether they can be sustained without a capricious disregard of competent evidence. Zysk v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 12 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 409, 316 A. 2d 663 (1974); Diller Unemployment Compensation Case, 200 Pa. Superior Ct. 235, 188 A. 2d 844 (1963).
“An employe shall be ineligible for compensation for any week—
“(b)(2) In which his or her unemployment is due to leaving work (I) to accompany or to join his or her spouse in a new locality, or (II) because of marital, filial or other domestic obligation or circumstance, whether or not such work is in ‘employment’ as defined in this act: Provided, however, that the provisions of this subsection (2) shall not be applicable if the employe during a substantial part of six months either prior to such leaving or the time of filing either an application or claim for benefits was the sole or major support of his or her family, and such work is not within a reasonable commuting distance from the new locality to which the employe has moved.”
This provision has been consistently construed to negate, as grounds for “necessitous and compelling” cause under Section 402(b)(1), a voluntary termination attributable to such “marital or domestic obligations or circumstances” as the necessity of caring for ill family members or small children. Hainzer Unemployment Compensation Case, 202 Pa. Superior Ct. 172, 195 A. 2d 842 (1963); Brown Unemployment Compensation Case, 200 Pa. Superior Ct. 530, 190 A. 2d 178 (1963); Dawkins Unemployment Compensation Case, 197 Pa. Superior Ct. 427, 178 A. 2d 775 (1962). The only decision to the contrary is Savage Unemployment Compensation Case, 401 Pa. 501, 165 A. 2d 374 (1960), which held that an employee’s voluntary termination of work to care for his disabled wife 60 miles from his prior place of employment was for necessitous and compelling reasons. When Savage was decided, the marital or domestic obligation exception of Section 402(b) (2)
Claimant argues that Section 402(b) (2) is inapplicable because it was the extreme distance to work in conjunction with his wife’s difficulties which made his continued employment unsuitable. The record does not support this contention, but even if it did, it is apparent that the i’eferee as well as the Board chose to believe that claimant’s motivation in quitting his job was to care for his wife. As this involves a review of the credibility of the witness, we are bound by the fact-finder’s determination. Cornyn v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 12 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 447, 316 A. 2d 158 (1974).
We must also agree with the Board that claimant’s situation does not come within the proviso to Section 402(b)(2). As the Superior Court said in Cochran Unemployment Compensation Case, 197 Pa. Superior Ct. 149, 152, 177 A. 2d 26, 27 (1962): “It was the intention of the legislature to render ineligible for benefits a claimant who leaves work because of marital, filial or domestic obligations, unless the particular claimant involved falls within the currently effective statutory exception.” Here, claimant was required to establish (1) that he was the sole or major support of his family for a substantial part of the six months prior to
The extraordinary facts of tMs case move us to sincerely sympathize but we are bound by “the known certainty of the law.”
Order
And Now, tMs 1st day of August, 1974, the Order of the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review in the above-captioned case is affirmed.
Act of December 17, 1959, P. D. 1893, §8.
Act of August 24,1953, P. L. 1397, §402.
Act of March 30, 1955, P. L. 6, §5.