Section 32a
PROCEDURE, Good cause for reconsideration, Administrative clerical error, Business address, Adverse impact
CITE AS: Cottage Inn v Katt, Muskegon Circuit Court No. 84-19223-AE (February 10, 1985)
Appeal pending: No
Claimant: Peggy J. Katt
Employer: Cottage Inn
Docket No. B83-12877-93637
CIRCUIT COURT HOLDING: "Although an administrative clerical error may constitute `good cause' for a late appeal, it does not do so unless it adversely or materially prejudices an interested party."
FACTS: The employer protested the determination after expiration of the protest period. The employer, a seasonal business, had notified the Commission that mail should be sent to the owner's home address instead of the employer's business address. Although the determination had the employer's home address listed on it, the determination was mailed to the business address. The employer did not check the mail at the business address regularly and did not discover the determination had been received until after the protest period had expired. The employer contended there was good cause for reconsideration because the Commission erred by mailing the determination to the employer's business address.
DECISION: Good cause for reconsideration was not established.
RATIONALE: Since the employer did not take reasonable steps to ensure that business mail would be received timely, the employer has no cause to say that any clerical error in mailing the determination adversely or materially prejudiced her. It was the employer's responsibility to check the mail at her business address or have it forwarded to her home. The employer's failure to check the mail at her business address, not the Commission's error in mailing it to that address, was the reason the employer did not actually receive the determination on time.
7/99
1, 9:N/A