Aaron v. Review Bd. of Workforce Devel

In Aaron v. Review Bd. of Workforce Devel., 726 N.E.2d 880 (Ind. App. 2000), the employment board found the one-time special payment was deductible from unemployment benefits in the week when the payments would have been paid if not for the layoffs. However, the Aaron court reversed the board and held the one-time special payments, under Indiana law, were deductible from the employees' unemployment benefits when they were actually paid. The Indiana employment security statutes, Ind. Code 22-4-5-2 (1991), specify when to attribute some categories of income deductible from unemployment compensation benefits. Payments for vacation pay "made subsequent to the normal pay day for the pay period in which the vacation was taken" are deductible from unemployment compensation benefits during the week "in which" the payments are actually paid. Ind. Code 22-4-5-2(c). The Aaron court held there was no evidence in the record that the one-time special payment was anything but "'payment of vacation pay made subsequent to the normal pay day for the pay period in which the vacation was taken and shall be deemed deductible income with respect to the week in which such payment is made.'" 726 N.E.2d at 887. (quoting Ind. Code 22-4-5-2c). Consequently, the one-time special payment was attributable to the week in August when the GM employees were back at work, and not attributable to Independence Week when the employees were laid off and receiving unemployment benefits that could be reduced. The Aaron court also addressed the language in the Memorandum of Understanding concerning the possibility that the one-time special payment "may result" in ineligibility for unemployment benefits already received and that the employees would be responsible for repayment if that occurred. 726 N.E.2d at 887. The court had no argument with the claim that the one-time special payment was deductible income as provided in the Indiana employment security laws, but held the last paragraph of the Memorandum of Understanding did not reveal any agreement by the parties as to when the deductible income should be deducted from the benefits. 726 N.E.2d at 887-88.