Mouldings Division of Thompson Industries, Inc. v. Review Board of the Indiana Employment Security Division
Mouldings Division of Thompson Industries, Inc. v. Review Board of the Indiana Employment Security Division
Opinion of the Court
The appellee, Clara L. Goff, was employed by the appellant from February 2, 1947, to August 6, 1951, when she was laid off because there was no work available for her. When she went to work for the appellant she registered her home address as 2022. East Maryland Street, Indianapolis, Indiana, which registration she never saw fit to change although, while so employed, she moved to 9 South Pine Street in said city.
. Shortly after she was laid off work on August 6, 1951, she'filed a claim for unemployment relief with the Employment Security Board and the appellant, as
The conditions of the appellee’s employment' by the appellant were governed by a bargaining agreement between it and the International Association of Machinists, Local 1449. This agreement required the appellant to recall its employees who had been laid off because of no available work, in accordance with their seniority status, the last employee laid off to be the first recalled. Notice of recall was to be by registered mail, directed to the employee’s last known address and in the event an employee failed to respond to recall within three calendar days of the mailing date, said employee’s employment would be terminated as having left work voluntarily. Said agreement further provided that “all laid off employees shall be responsible for keeping his address correct and up to date through proper notice to the employer.”
The appellant challenges these conclusions as being contrary to law and rests its argument largely on the terms of the contract of employment between it and its employee’s bargaining agent and by which the appellee is bound. It says that her failure to receive notice in time to return to work was due entirely to her willful disregard of that provision of the contract which requires that “all laid off employees shall be responsible for keeping his address correct and up to date through proper notice to the employer” and therefore she must be considered as having constructively refused suitable work or, if her relation to the appellant was that of an employee detached from the general labor market but temporarily laid off work, then she was a constructive “voluntary
It is true that the appellee was remiss in her contractual duty, strictly construed, in failing to inform the appellant of her change of address but is equally clear that the appellant made no good faith effort to give her notice of recall that it was reasonably probable she would receive. The legislature has declared that the payment of unemployment compensation in worthy instances is essential to public welfare, Burns’ 1951 Replacement, §52-1525, and we do not believe, under the facts in this case, the appellee should be deprived thereof.
Note. — Reported in 106 N. E. 2d 402.
Reference
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- Mouldings Division of Thompson Industries, Inc. v. Review Board of The Indiana Employment Security Division
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- Published