HOUSE BILL REPORT

SB 6537

BYSenators West, Smitherman, Lee and Anderson; by request of Employment Security Department

Limiting applicability of administrative rulings relating to individual unemployment claims to other legal actions.

House Committe on Commerce & Labor

Majority Report:  Do pass.  (10)

      Signed by Representatives Wang, Chair; Cole, Vice Chair; Fisher, Jones, R. King, O'Brien, Patrick, Sanders, Sayan and Walker.

House Staff:Chris Cordes (786-7117)

AS PASSED HOUSE MARCH 3, 1988

BACKGROUND:

Administrative hearings for the Employment Security Department provide a forum for prompt determination of a claimant's benefit eligibility or other unemployment compensation questions.  By law, these hearings are more informal than judicial proceedings.  For example, the claimant may, but is not required, to be represented by an attorney or other representative.  The hearing is not required to follow strict rules of evidence or procedure.  An issue may be determined even though it was not raised by the claimant's notice of appeal.

In recent years, findings from these informal administrative hearings have been used in judicial proceedings.  Under the doctrine of collateral estoppel, a court may use a finding from a hearing to preclude a party from relitigating a factual or legal issue that was determined in the earlier proceeding.

SUMMARY:

Findings or determinations made by the Commissioner of the Employment Security Department or by an administrative law judge or other appeal tribunal for the purposes of administering unemployment insurance law may not be given conclusive effect and are not admissible in evidence in other judicial actions unrelated to unemployment insurance law.

Fiscal Note:      Available.

House Committee ‑ Testified For:    Graeme Sackrison, Employment Security Department;  and Vincent Roda, Washington State Hospital Association.

House Committee - Testified Against:      None Presented.

House Committee - Testimony For:    If courts are allowed to use the findings from unemployment insurance administrative hearings in other law suits, then the informal administrative hearings will become more formal, lengthy and expensive as parties attempt to make a record for all the issues that they might face later in court.

House Committee - Testimony Against:      None Presented.