In re Cleveland Freight Lines, Inc.
In re Cleveland Freight Lines, Inc.
Opinion of the Court
This matter is before the court on a motion to determine claims, and the objection of the trustee to the allowance of said claims as wage claims.
There was testimony from Albert Young, Treasurer of the Credit Union, that in some instances the monies remained in the savings account of the employee, in other instances monies were withdrawn by the various employees of Cleveland Freight Lines from their Credit Union Savings account and on other occasions monies were transferred directly from the savings account to a loan account at the Credit Union. But all these transactions occurred after the monies were deposited in the respective savings accounts following receipt by the Credit Union. From the time the employer forwarded said payroll deductions to the Credit Union it lost all control or dominion of said funds and had no further responsibility for such funds. Further the employer had no knowledge of how the monies were applied, transferred or distributed, as these transactions were private between the employee and the Credit
Farther, the evidence established conclusively that the entire payroll withholding arrangement was nnder the exclusive control of the employees of Cleveland Freight Lines. There was testimony from Beverly East, the financial secretary of Cleveland Freight Lines, that from time to time, employees of Cleveland Freight Lines actually raised the amount of the payroll withholding, lowered the amount, and even cancelled the arrangement for payroll withholding altogether. Miss Eust testified that at all times, Cleveland Freight Lines accepted the instructions of its employees as to any changes regarding their payroll withholding plan with the Credit Union.
The evidence established that the aforedescribed payroll withholding arrangements had continued over an extensive period of time. The evidence established further that during the weeks of December 5, 12, 19, and 26 in the year 1969, and the weeks of January 2 and 9 in the year 1970, monies were deducted from the wages of the claim - ants for deposit in the Credit Union, but not paid over to the Credit Union by Cleveland Freight Lines. The claimants contend that they are entitled to said monies as part of their wage claims pursuant to Section 64(A)(2) of the Bankruptcy Act. The trustee in bankruptcy contends that at such time that the monies were deducted from their wages, the claim was no longer the claim of the employees’ but the claim of the Credit Union and that the said monies lost their identity as “wages” and thus were not entitled to any wage preferences.
Although no precedent cases were presented or discovered involving the precise factual matter before us, three cases bearing some similarity to the case at issue were previously decided by the United States Supreme Court. The case of McKey v. Paradise, 299 U. S. 119, 81 L. Ed. 75, 57 S. Ct. 124, was decided in 1936. This was a claim presented by an employees’ welfare organization for
The case of United States v. Embassy Restaurant, Inc., 359 U. S. 29, 3 L. Ed. 2d 601, 79 S. Ct. 554, was decided in 1959. The issue in that case was whether contributions by an employer to a union welfare fund, required under the terms' of a collective bargaining agreement, were entitled to priority as being wages. The court found that the contributions were not wages for the reason that the amounts assessed bore no relationship to hours, wages or productivity. Further the court recognized that the contributions were not to the workman-but to the trustee of the welfare fund and that the workman had no legal right in or to the contributions.
The most recent case decided by the court was Joint Individual Board of the Electrical Industry v. United States, 391 U. S. 224, 20 L. Ed. 2d 546, decided in 1968. The facts in that case involved an employer’s contributions to an employees’ annuity plan established by a collective bargaining agreement. The employer was required to contribute $4.00 per day for each employee. The contributions were not payable to the employee but to a trustee who had the right to hold and manage the fund, The em
The case at bar is distinguished from the foregoing eases in several respects. Firstly the claims herein were made by each individual employee rather than by a trustee. Secondly the monies involved here were part of the wages earned by the employee and deducted from his actual paycheck rather than an assessment in addition to wages. But perhaps most persuasive of all is the fact that at all times during which said funds were in the hands of the employer, the employees retained full and sole • dominion over said funds. The employees could increase or reduce the deduction, or they could cancel the deduction in its entirety. The sole function of the employer was to act as a conduit or pipeline from the employee to the savings account of the employee. The arrangement did not involve a trusteeship but was merely a service or convenience for the employees. The employer had no obligation whatsoever to the Credit Union other than to pay over certain monies to the Credit Union as requested by its employees.
There is no dispute that the monies in question were originally wages. We are faced only with the question of whether they lost their identity as wages at any time while in the employer’s possession. In Collier on bankruptcy, Fourteenth Edition, Volume 3A, page 2117, the following statement is set forth: “The term wages as used in this section (Section 64(A)(2)) has received a very liberal construction.” This court has already found that at all times the claimant employees controlled the monies deducted from their wages. This is significant in determining whether said wages lost their identity as wages while being held by the employer. The employee and the Credit Union are the only signatories to the payroll withholding agreement. Until said funds are transferred to the Credit Union, they continue to retain their identity
Reference
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- Published