Warren E. Burger

“ If the employer's defenses are not accepted and the claim is allowed, that also constitutes a determination that the benefits are 'due.' As we have noted, this construction of the statutory scheme vindicates the congressional objective; California's approach tends to frustrate it. Our reading of the statute imposes no hardship on either the State or the employer [19] and gives effect to the congressional objective of getting money into the pocket of the unemployed worker at the earliest point that is administratively feasible. That is what the Unemployment Insurance program was all about. ”

“ The California procedure for initial determinations is effective in insuring that benefits are limited to legally eligible claimants. From 95%-98% of ineligible claimants are screened out at this stage. The primary inquiry at the preliminary interview is to examine the claimant's basic eligibility under the California statute. It is an occasion when the claims of both the employer and the employee can be heard, however. The regulations contemplate that the interviewer shall make inquiries of the employer informally. ”

“ It is true, as appellants argue, that the unemployment compensation insurance program was not based on need in the sense underlying the various welfare programs that had their genesis in the same period of economic stress a generation ago. A kind of 'need' is present in the statutory scheme for insurance, however, to the extent that any 'salary replacement' insurance fulfills a need caused by lost employment. The objective of Congress was to provide a substitute for wages lost during a period of unemployment not the fault of the employee. ”

“ A claimant, appearing at an unemployment insurance office to assert a claim initially is asked to fill out forms which, taken together, indicate the basis of the claim, the name of the claimant's previous employer, the reason for his unemployment, his work experience, etc. The claimant is asked to return to the office three weeks later for the purpose of receiving an Eligibility Benefits Rights Interview. ”

“ It would frustrate one of the Act's basic purposes-providing a 'substitute' for wages-to permit an employer to ignore the initial interview or fail to assert and document a claimed defense, and then effectuate cessation of payments by asserting a defense to the claim by way of appeal. If the employer fails to present any evidence, he has in effect defaulted, and neither he nor the State can with justification complain if, on a prima facie showing, benefits are allowed. ”

“ The purpose of the Act was to give prompt if only partial replacement of wages to the unemployed, to enable workers 'to tide themselves over, until they get back to their old work or find other employment, without having to resort to relief.' [12] Unemployment benefits provide cash to a newly unemployed worker 'at a time when otherwise he would have nothing to spend,' [13] serving to maintain the recipient at subsistence levels without the necessity of his turning to welfare or private charity. ”

“ If the claimant is successful on appeal, he receives a lump sum payment for weeks of unemployment prior to the Referee's decision. Id., § 1338. If the employer is successful on appeal, his reserve account is immediately credited with all monies that have been paid his former employee. He has no responsibility for recoupment. ”

“ We conclude that the word 'due' in § 303 (a) (1) , when construed in light of the purposes of the Act, means the time when payments are first administratively allowed as a result of a hearing of which both parties have notice and are permitted to present their respective positions; any other construction would fail to meet the objective of early substitute compensation during unemployment. Paying compensation to an unemployed worker promptly after an initial determination of eligibility accomplishes the congressional purposes of avoiding resort to welfare and stabilizing consumer demands ”

“ The following extract from the testimony of the Secretary of Labor, in support of the Act, describes the stabilization mechanism contemplated:
'I think that the importance of providing purchasing power for these people, even though temporary, is of very great significance in the beginning of a depression. ”