Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Commission --
Summary of Wisconsin Court Decision relating to Unemployment Insurance

Subject: Arthur Hribar (Hearing No. 95602003RC) v. LIRC and Thomas A. Hribar Truck & Equipment, Inc. Case No. 95-CV-67 (Wis. Cir. Ct. Jackson County, December 26, 1995) Robert W. Radcliffe, Circuit Judge.

Digest Codes:  ER 455 - Family relationship  ET 491 - Family corporation: Director, officer, stockholder

The employe worked for the employer in 1993 and 1994 as a truck driver and earned approximately $17,500. The employer is owned by the employe’s adult son.

The employe applied for unemployment benefits in September 1994. The commission concluded that the employe worked for a corporation in which at least one-half of the ownership interest was owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by his child. Base period wages were limited to a maximum of ten times the weekly benefit rate based solely on employment by this employer.

Held: The employe contends that the term child as used in Wis. Stat. § 108.04(1)(g), is limited to a person under 18 years of age. His claim has no basis. A child is a child of its parent forever. The legislature did not limit the term child to persons under 18 years of age. The plaintiff’s interpretation of the statute would render the purpose of the statute ineffective. The commission’s interpretation gives meaning to the legislative purpose to maintain the fiscal integrity of the fund and to prevent abuse and circumvention in family corporation employment. Benefits denied.

Please note that this is a summary prepared by staff of the commission, not a verbatim reproduction of the court decision.

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