Work for Which Claimant Was Not Paid Did Not Disqualify Her from Unemployment Insurance Benefits

The Third Department determined unemployment insurance benefits should not have been denied claimant.  Claimant cared for a coworker’s child but was not paid for doing so. The board’s finding that claimant’s lack of employment was not “total” was not, therefore, supported by substantial evidence:

Resolution of this case turns on whether claimant’s activities in caring for her coworker’s child without compensation while she was laid off constitute a lack of total unemployment rendering her ineligible to receive unemployment insurance benefits. Labor Law § 591 (1) limits eligibility for benefits to those claimants who are “totally unemployed” … , which has been defined as “the total lack of any employment on any day” … . In this context, the term employment contemplates that a claimant will potentially receive some type of monetary payment or future benefit in exchange for services rendered… .

Here, it is undisputed that claimant did not receive any compensation for caring for her coworker’s son and there is no evidence in the record that she was likely to obtain a future financial benefit for doing so. Consequently, we must conclude that the Board’s finding that claimant’s activities in this regard amounted to a lack of total unemployment is not supported by substantial evidence … . Matter of Connerton (Thousand Is. Cent. Sch. Dist.–Commissioner of Labor), 2015 NY Slip Op 07892, 3rd Dept 10-29-15