Voltz v. Commonwealth, Unemployment Compensation Board of Review
Voltz v. Commonwealth, Unemployment Compensation Board of Review
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
Before this Court is an appeal by Randolph Voltz (Claimant) from a decision and order of the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review (Board) affirming a referee’s determination that Claimant was ineligible for benefits, by virtue of his becoming self-employed, and was liable for a fault overpayment. We affirmed.
Claimant was employed by Flo-Con Systems, Inc., as maintenance and production supervisor. His last day. of employment at Flo-Con was May 29, 1981, after which he began receiving unemployment compensation benefits.
Claimant has predicated his arguments to this Court on the theory that his former employer failed to meet its burden of establishing that Claimant was self-employed. See DeBolt Transfer, Inc. v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 58 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 246, 427 A.2d 744 (1981).
With respect to the conclusion that Claimant is liable for a fault overpayment in the amount of the benefits received subsequent to August 15, 1981, Claimant, citing Logut v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 49 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 575, 411 A.2d 881 (1980), argues that he honestly did not perceive himself to be self-employed and that he therefore did not actively conceal his status when he indicated on the eligibility forms that he was not employed. Logut is inapposite. There we indicated that, because
Ordeb
Now, June 6, 1984, the decision and order of the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review in the above captioned matter, No. B-204751, dated April 21, 1982, is hereby affirmed.
Claimant’s initial entitlement to benefits is not at issue here.
Act of December 5, 1936, Second Ex. Sess., P.L. (1937) 2897, as amended, 43 P.S. §802(h), which reads, in pertinent part:
An employee shall be ineligible for compensation for any week—
(h)In which he is engaged in self-employment: Provided, however, That an employe who is able and available for full-time work shall be deemed not engaged in self-employment by reason of continued participation without substantial change during a period of unemployment in any activity including farming operations undertaken while customarily employed by an employer in full-time work whether or not such work is in “employment” as defined in this act and continued subsequent to separation from such work when such activity is not engaged in as a primary source of livelihood.
As in DeBolt, the more common context in which the self- employment question arises is in determining initial eligibility, i.e. whether the claimant is an employee or an independent contractor.
Claimant’s assertions that it was an attorney, not himself, who placed his name on the businesses’ records and that the records were not filed, goes to the weight and credibility to be afforded the evidence, a matter for the referee to determine. Bowman v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 49 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 170, 410 A.2d 422 (1980). This also holds true for allegations that the business was owned solely by his wife and that the name “Randy Voltz & Sons” (his sons were ten and five years old at the time) was a fictitious name designed to capitalize on the reputation of the Claimant for remodeling work.
Claimant emphasizes this point in his brief to this Court. Assuming, arguendo, that it is true, in light of his wife’s involvement in the business, it is nothing more than an unpersuasive technicality.
49 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. at 580, n.4, 411 A.2d at 883, n.4.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.