Casey Ball Supports Corporation v. UCBR – June 9, 2020 – Cmwlth. Court – unreported memorandum opinion **
We turn first to the Board’s issuance of its own decision. Contrary to Employer’s suggestion, the Board is the ultimate finder of fact in unemployment compensation cases with the power to determine credibility and evidentiary weight. Peak v. Unemployment Comp. Bd. of Review, 501 A.2d 1383, 1388 (Pa. 1985); Oliver v. Unemployment Comp. Bd. of Review, 5 A.3d 432, 438 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2010). The Board’s findings of fact are conclusive on appeal when the record, in its entirety, contains substantial evidence supporting those findings. Oliver, 5 A.3d at 438. Additionally, although Employer challenged the legality of the Board’s issuance of findings of fact, Employer failed to make specific challenges to any of those findings. Accordingly, the findings are conclusive on appeal. Campbell v. Unemployment Comp. Bd. of Review, 694 A.2d 1167, 1169 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1997).
Where, as here, both parties submitted evidence, there was no need for the Board to specify why it deviated from the referee’s findings of fact and conclusions of law. Peak, 501 A.2d at 1386-87; Hasely v. Unemployment Comp. Bd. of Review, 553 A.2d 482, 487 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1989). Consequently, the fact that the referee personally observed the witnesses is of no moment.
Finally, as long as there is substantial evidence for the Board’s findings, “[t]he fact that Employer may have produced witnesses who gave a different version of the events, or that Employer might view the testimony differently than the Board, is not grounds for reversal . . . .” Tapco, Inc. v. Unemployment Comp. Bd. of Review, 650 A.2d 1106, 1108-09 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1994). Here, the Board credited Claimant’s testimony and we cannot overturn that credibility determination on appeal.
Fitzpatrick v. Unemployment Comp. Bd. of Review, 616 A.2d 110, 111 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1992). We are bound to view the evidence in the light most favorable to Claimant, as the party who prevailed before the Board, and give her the benefit of all inferences that can logically and reasonably be drawn from the testimony. Chapman v. Unemployment Comp. Bd. of Review, 20 A.3d 603, 607 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2011).
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This case is also reported in the PLAN Legal Update
**An unreported Commonwealth Court case may not be cited binding precedent but can be cited for its persuasive value. See 210 Pa. Code § 69.414(b) and Pa. R.A.P. 3716
