5 Pa. Commw. 145 | Pa. Commw. Ct. | 1972
Opinion by
This is an appeal from the affirmance by the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review of a referee’s dismissal of the appellants’ claims for compensation.
The appellants are members of a union. They, together with other members, conducted a work stoppage at their employer’s plant which lasted for a period of one week. As a result of start-up problems caused by the stoppage, some of the employees, including the appellants here, were not recalled for a period of days after the work stoppage had ended. The appellants claim unemployment compensation for the period be
The appellants concede that the issue has been definitively ruled upon against their position. Fort Pitt Manufacturing Co. v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 176 Pa. Superior Ct. 162, 106 A. 2d 672 (1954); Bako Unemployment Compensation Case, 171 Pa. Superior Ct. 222, 90 A. 2d 309 (1952). Section 402 (d) of the Unemployment Compensation Law, Act of December 5, 1936, P. L. (1937 ) 2897, as amended, 43 P.S. §802(d), provides that an employee shall be ineligible for compensation for any week “[i]n which his unemployment is due to a stoppage of work, which exists because of a labor dispute. . . .” The Superior Court in the cases cited held that ineligibility is not limited to the period of the strike but includes the time after the strike reasonably required to restore the employer’s plant to normal operations. See also Mosko Unemployment Compensation Case, 199 Pa. Superior Ct. 73, 184 A. 2d 395 (1962). The appellants urge us to change the law by interpreting Section 402(d) so as to confine the period of ineligibility to the period of the strike. They advance two reasons for our doing so. First, they point out that prior to an amendment of Section 402(d) by the Act of June 30, 1947, P. L. 1186, the subsection provided for ineligibility for any week “[i]n which his unemployment is due to the voluntary suspension of work resulting from an industrial dispute . . . provided That this disqualification shall apply only to any week of unemployment which . . . includes any part of a period beginning with the day on which such suspension occurs and ending with (i) the last day of the fourth calendar week immediately following the calendar week in which such suspension occurs or (ii) the day on which such suspension was terminated, whichever is earlier.” Act of May 29, 1945, P. L. 1147, §9.
The appellants’ other argument is founded upon Pramco, Inc. v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 396 Pa. 560, 154 A. 2d 875 (1959). There the Superior Court had held that Section 402(b), 43 P.S. §802(b), providing for ineligibility for any week “[i]n which his unemployment is due to voluntarily leaving work without cause . . . provided . . . That the provisions of this subsection shall not apply in the event of a stoppage of work which exists because of a labor dispute . . .” rendered ineligible for compensation striking employees who were never recalled because the employer lost orders by reason of the strike. The company there had continued operations during the strike and the Superior Court reasoned that there was no work stoppage and therefore the claimants became and continued to be persons who had voluntarily left their work. The Supreme Court in reversing interpreted the
Finally, the Superior Court’s interpretation of Section 402(d) to which we here adhere has existed and been followed by it and the Board for upwards of twenty years, during which time the Legislature has amended Section 402 in other respects on four occasions. See Bonomo Unemployment Compensation Case, 161 Pa. Superior Ct. 622, 56 A. 2d 288 (1948), and the Acts of
Order
And Now, to wit, this 12th day of April, 1972, the petitioners’ appeals are dismissed and the orders of the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review affirmed.