Lead
This appeal is a consolidation of two cases. The Court is asked to determine what statutory requirements a striking worker must satisfy in order to requalify
The employers in Orhanen appeal from a decision of the Court of Appeals that affirmed the Board of Review’s grant of benefits to three employees.
In Asmund, employees appeal from a Court of Appeals decision that the award of unemployment compensation benefits to them was improper.
We affirm the Court of Appeals decision in Orhanen and reverse the decision in Asmund.
i
INTRODUCTION
Eligibility of employees to receive unemployment compensation benefits and the bases of disqualification for those benefits are established by the mesa. MCL 421.28; MSA 17.530 and MCL 421.29(8)(b); MSA 17.531(8)(b).
An individual’s disqualification imposed or imposable under this subsection is terminated if the individual performs services in employment with an employer in at least 2 consecutive weeks falling wholly within the period of the individual’s total or partial unemployment due to the labor dispute, and in addition earns wages in each of those weeks in an amount equal to or greater than the individual’s actual or potential weekly benefit rate with respect to those weeks based on the individual’s employment with the employer involved in the labor dispute. [MCL 421.29(8)(b); MSA 17.531(8)0) (emphasis added).]
In Orhanen and Asmund, the Court is asked to consider whether, in amending the disqualification provision of § 29(8)(b), the Legislature intended (1) that a requirement of “good faith” be added to the listed objective criteria, and (2) whether it intended that the phrase “services in employment with an employer” be construed as requiring employment with a single employer.
We resolve the issues in favor of the employees. We find that the Board of Review’s interpretations of § 29(8) (b) are in accord with the underlying purpose of the act itself.
n
THE “GOOD FAITH” CRITERION ISSUE AND THE “SINGLE EMPLOYER” ISSUE
Whether interim employment ends disqualification for unemployment benefits is dependent on the wording of the statute. Thomas v Employment Security Comm,
We begin our analysis by examining the rationale underlying the MESA. Doing so sharpens our understanding of the circumstances surrounding its enactment. We review the prelegislative history and the motivations that induced enactment. Horack, The disintegration of statutory construction, 24 Ind L J 335, 338 (1949).
Next, we look to this Court’s decisions that touch on the history and the circumstances surrounding § 29(8)(b). Dow Chemical Co v Curtis,
Once we have ascertained the Legislature’s intent, we follow the primary rule of statutory construction for cases interpreting the MESA: a “liberal” construction to afford coverage and a “strict” construction to effect disqualification. See Linski v Employment Security Comm,
The mesa was enacted primarily for the benefit of persons involuntarily unemployed. Its purpose is to lighten the burden of economic insecurity on those who become unemployed through no fault of their own. Kalamazoo Tank & Silo Co v Unemployment Compensation Comm,
Economic insecurity due to unemployment is a serious menace to the health, morals, and welfare of the people of this state. Involuntary unemployment is a subject of general interest and concern which requires action by the legislature to prevent its spread and to lighten its burden which so often falls with crushing force upon the unemployed worker and his family, to the detriment of the welfare of the people of this state. Social security requires protection against this hazard of our economic life. Employers should be encouraged to provide stable employment. [MCL 421.2; MSA 17.502.]
As the MESA is a remedial statute, it should be liberally construed to achieve its intended goal. Dudewicz v Norris Schmid, Inc,
As Justice McAllister stated in his dissent in Chrysler Corp v Smith,
The purpose of the legislation is to pay unemployment compensation benefits and to ameliorate the consequences of widespread unemployment. Such compensation is payable to unemployed workers with certain exceptions. To bring claimants within such exceptions, it is necessary to strain at the meaning of the language of the statute and to read into the act exceptions with regard to “integrated industry,” which are not mentioned anywhere in the legislation. To say the least, this would result in a narrow rather than a liberal construction of the meaning of the statute. It is most salutary, and in this case, in our opinion, conclusive, to bear in mind that the purpose of the legislation is to pay unemployment benefits, and not to refuse them; and a liberal construction results in the allowance of the claims rather than their denial.
We cited the McAllister dissent with approval in Park v Employment Security Comm,
B
In 1968, this Court interpreted § 29(8)(b) of the MESA, as then worded,
The question in Great Lakes was whether the phrase “establishment in which he is or was last employed” would affect the employees’ claims for benefits. Id. at 253-254. If it does, then a layoff from an interim employment is not disqualifying under § 29(8)(b).
The Great Lakes Court did not define the necessary minimum length of interim employment. As a consequence, employees who had worked a few hours or days were able to avoid disqualification. Nor did the Great Lakes Court explicitly interpret § 29(8) (b) as requiring a subjective criterion of “good faith” employment. Thus, the mesc urged the Legislature to adopt specific criteria to measure the nature and extent of services
After this Court decided Great Lakes, the Legislature enacted
The Legislature was aware that the employees in Great Lakes had obtained interim employment with multiple employers collectively. In formulating the amendment, however, the issue whether interim employment with multiple employers satisfies the statutory requirement was not addressed. Rather, the Legislature dealt with the nature and the extent of the employment. It specified the amount of remuneration that an employee must earn (the nature) and the minimum period in which an employee must perform an interim employment (the extent).
In its first opportunity to review the amended language of § 29(8)(b), the Court in Dow, supra, traced the history of
The Dow majority’s only comment on “good faith” employment was in reference to the history of the adoption of
It could have (1) adopted a subjective standard for determining whether a good-faith effort had been made by an employee to obtain bona fide employment, or it could have (2) provided a standard by which to judge whether interim employment had been taken merely to bypass the labor dispute disqualification provision. However, it chose to set no standard for determining an employee’s subjective intentions, holding instead that § 29(8)(b) contained objective criteria. Id. at 482.
We subscribe to and follow the reasoning of the Dow Court. We will not judicially legislate by adding language to the statute. In re Marin,
c
FACTS AND APPLICATION
EMPIRE IRON MINING v ASMUND AND EMPIRE IRON MINING v ORHANEN
The sixteen employees in these cases are members of the United Steelworkers Union.
In Asmund, the employees obtained interim employment from one employer, whereas the employees in Orhanen obtained their interim employment through a union hiring hall. The jobs secured by the union hiring hall were from multiple employers.
Nevertheless, in both cases, each employment lasted at least two consecutive weeks, with each interim employer paying the employee wages at or above his benefit rate. In time, when the interim employers laid off or reduced the hours of the employees, each steelworker applied for unemployment compensation benefits.
The Michigan Employment Security Commission, having initially denied each worker’s application for benefits, changed its rulings on redetermination. The mining companies appealed from that decision to an mesc referee.
The referee held a hearing on each claim and reversed the MESC’s decisions. The steelworkers then appealed to the Board of Review, which, in turn, reversed the referee’s decisions, finding that each steelworker had met the necessary statutory requirements for requalification of benefits. MCL 421.29(8)(b); MSA 17.531(8)(b). The circuit court affirmed the Board of Review. The mining companies then appealed to the Court of Appeals.
l
THE “GOOD FAITH” CRITERION ISSUE
In Asmund, the companies argued that § 29(8)(b) contained an implied subjective criterion that interim employment be performed in “good faith.” The Court of Appeals agreed.
It reasoned that each interim employment had been “make-work,” created solely for the purpose of allowing the employee to requalify for benefits. Consequently, each worker was barred from receiving benefits. Asmund, supra at 121. The steelworkers appealed to this Court, which granted leave.
The steelworkers in Asmund argue that the Legislature achieved its purpose by amending § 29(8)(b). They contend that only the requirements expressed in the statute are necessary for requalification. Therefore, they conclude, nothing more should be required. We agree. We cannot read requirements into a statute that the Legislature did not put there.
In defending their position, the mining companies in Asmund rely on Alin v Alaska Employment Security Comm, 17 Alas 607, 615 (1958). They advance Alin as authority for the proposition that a subjective criterion of “good faith” employment is necessary in evaluating interim employment.
In Alin, the court was asked to interpret the phrase “last employed.”
Where the act itself, as here, does not define the meaning of the term “last employed” it would seem that the commission could properly construe it to mean in effect “last regularly employed.” To do otherwise would open the door to unlimited abuse. It would permit a striker to obtain any sort of temporary work and when it was terminated to apply for benefits for the loss of the temporary job even though the work stoppage still continued. [Emphasis added.]
Although this Court has not been asked to interpret the phrase “last employed,” the mining companies have nonetheless asked this Court to follow the Alin court. They seek judicial imposition of a subjective criterion of “good faith” when an employee has obtained interim employment during a labor dispute. We avoid inserting words in statutes unless necessary to give intelligible meaning or to prevent absurdity. See McKibbin v Corporation & Securities Comm,
Because of our reluctance to insert words into statutes, we will not read into § 29(8)(b) a subjective intent requirement of good faith on the part of employees. Given the remedial purpose of the mesa and the potential to overload the system if subjective criteria were adopted, we will not tread where the Legislature has refused to go. Inquiry into the subjective elements of an employee’s employment is outside the bounds of the act.
2
THE “SINGLE EMPLOYER” ISSUE
In Orhanen, the mining companies argued that the plain wording of the statute permits consideration of wages paid by only one employer in determining an employee’s eligibility for benefits. Under the companies’ reading of the statute, then, the steelworkers could not qualify for benefits. A single employer did not pay them enough wages in at least two consecutive weeks of interim employment to meet the requirements of § 29(8)(b).
Employees Peter Orhanen, Gary Pyykkonen, and Dale A. Toivonen held union millwright cards and secured interim employment with at least three different companies through their union hiring hall.
Initially, the phrase “an employer” suggests that the plain language of the termination provision requires that interim employment be with a single employer, only. We cannot interpret § 29(8)(b) apart from other sections of the statute “without constant reference to the whole.” Plymouth Stamping v Lipshu,
We begin with the requirements that appear in the statute. They establish that an individual can requalify for unemployment benefits by (1) performing services in employment for at least two consecutive weeks, and (2) earning wages each week equal to or greater than the actual or potential weekly benefit rate. In defining and calculating the “benefit rate,” we are required to examine other sections of the act for guidance.
Specifically, MCL 421.20(b); MSA 17.521(b) provides in pertinent part:
If the individual earned credit weeks from more than 1 employer, a separate determination shall be made of the amount and duration of benefits based upon thetotal credit weeks and wages earned with each employer.
Finally, in order to establish the meaning of a “credit week,” we rely on MCL 421.50; MSA 17.554. That section not only defines “credit week,” it refers to wages earned from more than one employer. It states:
(1) If an individual earns wages from more than 1 employer in a credit week, that week shall be counted as 1 multiemployer credit week and shall be governed by the provisions of section 20(e) ....
[2] (a) First, all credit weeks which are not multiemployer credit weeks and which were earned with employers not involved in a disqualifying act or discharge under section 29(1), and all credit weeks earned with an employer involved in such a disqualifying act or discharge which were earned subsequent to the last act or discharge in which the employer was involved, shall be counted in inverse order of most recent employment with each employer. [MCL 421.50(b); MSA 17.554(b).]
Thus, reviewing the statute as a whole, we conclude that “an employer” may be interpreted as meaning multiple employers.
Statutes in pari materia are those which relate to the same person or thing, or the same class of persons or things, or which have a common purpose. It is the rule that in construction of a particular statute, or in the interpretation of its provisions, all statutes relating to the same subject, or having the same general purpose, should be read in connection with it, as together constituting one law, although enacted at different times, and containing no reference one to the other. [Detroit v Michigan Bell,374 Mich 543 , 558;132 NW2d 660 (1965).]
The rule that statutes that relate to the same subject matter should be read, construed, and applied together to distill the Legislature’s intention is of paramount importance in this case.
Next, examining other courts’ decisions, we have found only one that has specifically addressed whether the phrase “an employer” in a statute refers to more than one employer. Taminski v Administrator, Unemployment Compensation Act,
The Taminski court stated that its statute did not support the limited interpretation placed upon it. It recognized that its statute was remedial in nature, and therefore, held that its provisions were to be liberally construed for its beneficiaries in order to achieve its purpose. Id. We find the Taminski court’s rationale persuasive.
Finally, the Michigan Legislature has provided us with the necessary rules for making this statutory interpretation. MCL 8.3 et seq.) MSA 2.212 et seq. They specify that every word indicating the singular may extend to the plural, and every word indicating the plural may be applied to the singular. MCL 8.3b; MSA 2.212(2). See also In re Detroit,
The mining companies urge that the rules, being permissive in nature, should be applied only where no rationale exists for restricting
With that in mind, we conclude that workers who obtain interim employment when unemployed because of a labor dispute should not be penalized. We decline to interpret the statute as disallowing requalification because workers took interim employment from more than one employer. We recognize that (1) the striker need not sever his ties with his former employer and (2) the striker’s later employment need not be permanent in nature.
SUMMARY
We assume that the Legislature was aware of the administrative interpretations of the mesa when it amended § 29(8)(b).
We see nothing to require substituting a different construction from that crafted by the commission entrusted with the responsibility of administering the statute. We find that the Board of Review’s decisions in Asmund and Orhanen are not contrary to the intent of the Legislature and comply with the underlying rationale of the act itself. Therefore, we affirm the decision of the Court of Appeals in Orhanen and reverse the decision in Asmund.
Notes
Requalify is a term used throughout the act. It refers to a process whereby claimants who have become ineligible for unemployment compensation benefits can begin receiving them.
Empire Iron Mining Partnership v Orhanen,
Empire Iron Mining Partnership v Asmund,
MCL 421.28; MSA 17.530 sets forth the eligibility conditions for unemployment compensation benefits for an unemployed individual. MCL 421.29(8)(b); MSA 17.531(8)(b) sets forth the conditions for disqualification from benefits, which include participation in a labor dispute in actual progress.
Chevron, USA, Inc v Natural Resources Defense Council,
The pertinent part of § 29(8) read: “(1) An individual shall be disqualified for benefits: . . . (b) For any week with respect to which his total or partial unemployment is due to a stoppage of work existing because of a labor dispute in the establishment in which he is or was last employed.” (Emphasis added.)
MCL 421.40; MSA 17.542 defines employing unit.
Commentary submitted by the MESC to the Legislature in connection with SB 741,
“It is . . . recommended that Section 29(8) be amended to provide that a labor dispute disqualification be terminated if an individual performs services in employment with an employer in at least two consecutive weeks falling wholly within the period of his total or partial unemployment due to the labor dispute and if in addition he earns wages in each of such weeks in an amount equal to or in excess of his actual or potential weekly benefit rate with respect to such weeks based on [sic] his employment with the employer involved in the labor dispute.”
It was further amended by
In Michigan, MCL 421.29(5); MSA 17.531(5) addresses the issue of leaving work to accept permanent full-time work with another employer.
There have been no claims of misrepresentation of facts in either of these cases. Such claims would be governed by MCL 421.29(8), 421.54a; MSA 17.531(8), 17.558(1).
Judicial construction is usually not permitted where a statute is clear and unambiguous on its face. However, we undertake interpretation of the statutory language in this case to show that a plain reading of the statute will not produce an absurd result. See McKibbin v Corporation & Securities Comm,
The Court in Great Lakes dealt with this issue as well. However, the Court refused to read “regularly” into the statute. Rather, the Court held that a claimant’s interim employer became the “establishment in which he is or was last employed.” To hold otherwise, the Court stated, would render purposeless the disqualifying provisions of § 29(l)(b). Id. at 253-254.
MCL 421.32(a); MSA 17.534(a) and MCL 421.46; MSA 17.550 set forth the steps the commission must follow when an employee seeks redetemiination. The commission has broad statutory authority in reviewing a claimant’s eligibility for benefits, thus allowing it to consider false statements, nondisclosures, misrepresentations of material facts, and fraud. This opinion is not intended to restrict the commission’s statutory authority.
We consider employment through a union hiring hall to be arms-length employment and a legitimate manner of obtaining interim employment.
Moreover, to quote Justice Riley as she correctly stated in Tryc v Michigan Veterans’ Facility,
This Court was asked to decide whether the phrase “an insured” referred to only one or to all insureds in Allstate Ins Co v Freeman,
The Gilbert court rejected a plaintiffs argument that the phrase “ ‘an insured person’ connotes the singular, not the plural . . . .” Id. at 454. By adopting the Ninth Circuit’s logic, we held that “an insured” refers to any or all insureds, that “an” can connote the plural as weE as the singular. Freeman, supra at 694. Justice Riley, writing for the majority, stated: “Strong pubEc poEcy supports this decision. Adherence to a correct usage of the English language . . . promotes a uniform, reEable, and reasonable foundation . . . .” Id. at 699.
The MESC itself has interpreted the language of the statute. In deferring to its decision, we find support in Unemployment Compensation Comm of Alaska v Aragon,
To sustain the Commission’s application of [a] statutory term, we need not find that its construction is the only reasonable one, or even that it is the result we would have reached had the question arisen in the first instance in judicial proceedings. The “reviewing court’s function is limited.” [Id. at 153.]
Some courts have held that the labor dispute disqualification imposed by the statute cannot be terminated by the subsequent acceptance of temporary work; only permanent employment, accepted with an intent to completely sever the relationship with the prior employer, will suffice to end the disqualification. Tri-State Motor Transit Co v Industrial Comm, Div of Employment Security,
The commentary submitted by the MESC to the Legislature in connection with the proposed amendment of § 29(8)(b) stated:
In Great Lakes Steel Corporation v Michigan Employment Security Commission (1968),381 Mich 249 , the Supreme Court of Michigan held that a claimant shall be deemed to have terminated a labor dispute disqualification imposed under Section 29(8) by performing services subsequent to the beginning of the labor dispute in employment for remuneration with an employer.
The Court however made no finding as to what amount of remuneration must be received by the claimant in order to terminate the labor dispute disqualification. However, it appears that in the Great Lakes Steel case that all of the individuals worked with the interim employees [sic] from several days to several weeks and that the amount of remuneration that the individuals received was at least equal to the amount that would have been the individual’s benefit rate in such week of interim employment if he had been eligible and qualified in all respects.
Concurrence Opinion
(concurring in part and dissenting in part). Because I believe the statute should be applied as it was written, I respectfully dissent from the majority’s decision in
I. EMPIRE IRON MINING v ORHANEN
The rules of statutory construction are well established. This Court begins by examining the language of the statute itself. See Tryc v Michigan Veterans’ Facility,
An individual’s disqualification imposed or imposable under this subsection is terminated if the individual performs services in employment with an employer in at least 2 consecutive weeks falling wholly within the period of the individual’s total or partial unemployment due to the labor dispute, and in addition earns wages in each of those weeks in an amount equal to or greater than the individual’s actual or potential weekly benefit rate with respect to those weeks based on the individual’s employment with the employer involved in the labor dispute. [MCL 421.29(8)(b); MSA 17.531(8)(b) (emphasis added).]
The majority concludes that an employee may terminate his disqualification even if he does not work for two consecutive weeks with a single employer. Ante, p 429. The opinion concludes, without expressly stating, that the statute’s language is ambiguous. I disagree with this approach because I believe that the statute, examined by itself, is unambiguous. In using the phrase “with an employer,” the Legislature has required that an employee work for two weeks with a single employer in order to requalify for unemploymerit compensation benefits during a labor strike. I see no need for judicial construction.
The majority relies on other sections of the act, specifically MCL 421.20; MSA 17.521 (determining how benefits shall be paid) and MCL 421.50; MSA 17.554 (defining “credit week”), to support its claim that “an employer” in § 29(8) may refer to multiple employers. See ante, pp 426-427. However, the specific sections the majority quotes, which indicate that an employee may receive benefits for a week in which he worked for multiple employers, do not govern the circumstance in which an employee attempts to terminate his disqualification under § 29(8) during a labor strike through interim work. Subsection 29(8) specifically disqualifies an employee for unemployment benefits during a labor dispute and identifies the requirements that he must meet to terminate it. The majority ignores the plain language of § 29(8), which requires that the interim employment be “with an employer,” and instead cites other provisions of the act that do not apply in this circumstance.
Every word importing the singular number only may extend to and embrace the plural number, and every word importing the plural number may be applied and limited to the singular number. [Emphasis added.]
The majority, by applying this permissive inference to this statute, renders the unambiguous language of the statute ambiguous. The purpose of the statutory rules of construction is to enhance the Court’s ability to interpret the legislative intent when a statute is unclear, not to obscure what is otherwise clear. The Legislature has expressly reserved, under MCL 8.3; MSA 2.212, the application of these statutory rules to cases in which the Legislature’s intent is not manifest, i.e., when the statutory language is ambiguous:
In the construction of the statutes of this state, the rules stated in sections 3a to 3w shall be observed, unless such construction would be inconsistent with the manifest intent of the legislature. [Emphasis added.]
Consequently, I would limit the application of the statutory rules of construction, listed in §§ 3a to 3w, to statutes in which (1) the plain language does not make the Legislature’s intent manifest, or, in other words, the statute is ambiguous or (2) the statute’s language would otherwise create an absurd result. See Crowley, Milner & Co v Macomb Circuit Judge,
The plain meaning of the statute as written is consistent with this Court’s explanation in Dow Chemical Co v Curtis,
In the context of the legislative history, the Legislature’s decision in § 29(8) to use the phrase “with an employer” indicates that the
n. EMPIRE IRON MINING v ASMUND
In Asmund, I agree that there is no good-faith requirement in § 29(8). The majority’s analysis, “by examining the rationale underlying the [Michigan Employment Security Act],” and by considering the “history and circumstances surrounding § 29(8)(b),” ante, pp 415-416, suggests that the statute’s language is ambiguous. Although the opinion claims that it is only engaging in judicial construction in footnote 12 on page 423 to demonstrate that the plain meaning of the statute will not produce an absurd result, the rest of the opinion’s analysis suggests otherwise. I believe that the statute unambiguously fails to include a good-faith requirement. Hence, I do not think there is any reason to engage in judicial construction. See Tryc, supra at 135. I also agree with the majority that an examination of the legislative history of the statute reveals that the Legislature did not intend to create a good-faith requirement, but instead only established objective criteria. See ante, pp 422-423. This judicial construction is only necessary, in my opinion, for demonstrating that the statute’s plain meaning does not create an absurd result.
In examining the language of § 29(8), I would hold that the statute requires an employee to prove three points before terminating the labor dispute disqualification: he must prove that (1) he has worked for two consecutive weeks, (2) with the same employer, and (3) has earned a wage equal to or greater than the actual or potential benefit rate from his previous employer. For these thirteen employees in Asmund, each employee satisfied the objective criteria of § 29(8) by working for a single employer for two consecutive weeks and, during that period, was paid a greater wage than he was paid by his previous employer. I concur in the majority’s decision to reverse the Court of Appeals decision.
m. conclusion
I would reverse the Court of Appeals decision in Orhanen and reinstate the decision of the MESC referee that the three employees did not terminate the labor dispute disqualification under § 29(8) because they failed to work for two consecutive weeks with a single employer. Because I agree that the thirteen employees met the objective criteria of § 29(8), I concur in the majority’s decision in Asmund to reverse the Court of Appeals decision and reinstate the MESC Board of Review’s decision to terminate the labor dispute disqualification.
The Court in Dow, supra at 481, n 10, noted that the language at issue was taken from a recommendation from the MESC to increase the nature and extent of interim work that terminates the labor dispute disqualification:
“It is therefore recommended that Section 29(8) be amended to provide that a labor dispute disqualification be terminated if an individual performs services in employment with an employer in at least two consecutive weeks falling wholly within the period of his total or partial unemployment due to the labor dispute and if in addition he earns wages in each of such weeks in an amount equal to or in excess of his actual or potential weekly benefit rate with respect to such weeks based on his employment with the employer involved in the labor dispute.” [Emphasis added.]
There is no indication that the MESC Board of Review was relying on a longstanding interpretation of the act in reversing the referee decisions.