Assurance of reemployment of an educator negates his or her eligibility for unemployment insurance benefits between school years

Assurance of reemployment of an educator negates his or her eligibility for unemployment insurance benefits between school years
Huff v Commissioner of Labor, 247 AD2d 734, 257 AD2d 832

In case involving a claim for unemployment insurance benefits, Buffalo City School District teacher’s aide Dennis Huff, Sr. filed an application for unemployment insurance benefits in June 1997 at the end of the 1996-1997 academic year.

Applying the provisions of Section 590.11 of the Labor Law, the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board ruled that Huff was ineligible for such benefits for the summer of 1997 because the Buffalo City School District had given him a reasonable assurance that he would be rehired on the same terms and conditions of employment for the 1997-1998 school year effective September 1997.

Huff appealed, contending that Section 590.11 did not apply in his situation “because he normally provided services for an educational institution that accepts students year-round.” The Appellate Division, noting that Huff had made the same argument “in prior unsuccessful claims,” observed that the applicable Taylor Law contract covers Huff’s employment only during the academic year -- September through the June next following. The employment of aides for summer school, said the court, “is dictated by entirely different criteria.”
NYPPL