A.M. Faheem v. UCBR ( 2024 )

IN THE COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA
Abdul Majeed Faheem, :
Petitioner :
:
v. : 1393 C.D. 2023
: SUBMITTED: October 8, 2024
Unemployment Compensation :
Board of Review, :
Respondent :
BEFORE: HONORABLE PATRICIA A. McCULLOUGH, Judge
HONORABLE LORI A. DUMAS, Judge
HONORABLE BONNIE BRIGANCE LEADBETTER, Senior Judge
OPINION NOT REPORTED
MEMORANDUM OPINION BY
SENIOR JUDGE LEADBETTER FILED: November 18, 2024
Abdul Majeed Faheem, Claimant, petitions for review from the order
of the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, which affirmed the decision
of the Referee dismissing Claimant’s appeal of a denial of benefits as untimely. We
affirm.
Claimant filed an application for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance
(PUA) benefits effective March 29, 2020. On September 17, 2021, the
unemployment compensation service center issued a notice of determination
denying Claimant PUA benefits from November 22, 2020 through September 4,
2021, under Section 2102(a)(3)(A)(ii)(I) of the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and
Economic Security (CARES) Act, 15 U.S.C. § 9021(a)(3)(A)(ii)(I). The
determination was sent to Claimant by email, his preferred method of notification.
Certified Record “C.R.” at 7. Claimant did not file an appeal of the determination
until September 14, 2022. After a hearing in which Claimant participated, the
Referee issued a decision dismissing Claimant’s appeal as untimely under Section
501(e) of the Unemployment Compensation Law,1 43 P.S. § 821(e).
Claimant filed an appeal of the Referee’s decision with the Board,
which affirmed the Referee’s decision. Thereafter, Claimant filed the instant
petition for review.
Claimant lists four questions in his brief, none of which involve the
timeliness of his appeal from the March 29, 2020 determination. The second of the
four questions2 asks “why [Claimant] did not receive [a] response against [sic] [his]
first appeal that [he] filed through email and faxed on April 14, 2020.” Claimant’s
Br. at 22. However, any appeal filed on April 14, 2020 would be well before the
date Claimant was notified by the Board of the determination denying his claim for
PUA benefits. The argument portion of Claimant’s brief does not address this issue
or any other issue of timeliness. Claimant’s Br. at 25.
1
Act of December 5, 1936, P.L. 2897, as amended, 43 P.S. § 821(e). Subsection (e) provides
that
[u]nless the claimant . . .files an appeal with the [B]oard, from the
determination contained in any notice required to be furnished by
the department under [S]ection [501(a)], no later than twenty-one
calendar days after the “Determination Date” provided on such
notice, and applies for a hearing, such determination of the
[Department of Labor and Industry], with respect to the particular
facts set forth in such notice, shall be final and compensation shall
be . . . denied in accordance therewith.
43 P.S. § 821(e).
The meaning of Claimant’s other three questions is difficult to discern and their relationship
2
to the argument section of Claimant’s brief is also unclear. See Claimant’s Br. at 22-23, 25.
2
The service center issued its determination on September 17, 2021,
which meant that Claimant had 21 days to file his appeal, ending October 8, 2021.
Claimant did not file an appeal until nearly a year later. The appeal provisions of
the Law are mandatory, as we said in Dumberth v. Unemployment Compensation
Board of Review, 837 A.2d 678, 681 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2003); “[i]f an appeal is not filed
[timely3], it becomes final, and the Board does not have the requisite jurisdiction to
consider the matter . . . . Appeal periods, even at the administrative level, are
jurisdictional and may not be extended . . . .” Therefore, even “an appeal filed one
day after the expiration of the statutory appeal period must be dismissed as
untimely.” Id.3
Section 501(e) of the Law was amended by the Act of June 30, 2021, to change the deadline
for filing an appeal of a determination from 15 days after delivery to a claimant personally or
mailing to his last known post office address to 21 days after the “determination date” provided on
the notice issued under Section 501(a), 43 P.S. § 821(a). Subsection (f) was added providing that
the notice must be mailed to the claimant’s last known post office address or transmitted
electronically, as designated by the recipient. 43 P.S. § 821(f). The quoted portion of Dumberth
references the former version of Section 501(e). See Dumberth, 837 A.2d at 681 (“[i]f an appeal
is not filed within fifteen days of the mailing of the determination . . . .”). Despite the change in
the Law, administrative appeal deadlines are still jurisdictional.
3
There is no argument in Claimant’s brief setting forth a violation of
constitutional rights, an error of law, or a failure to support necessary findings of
fact with substantial evidence,4 but merely disagreement with the decision. See
Claimant’s Br. at 25. Thus, we affirm.
_____________________________________
BONNIE BRIGANCE LEADBETTER,
President Judge Emerita
4
The argument portion of a brief must be developed with pertinent discussion of the issues,
including citations to relevant authority. Rule 2119(a) of the Pennsylvania Rules of Appellate
Procedure, Pa.R.A.P. 2119(a). When a party fails to satisfy this requirement, the Court is neither
obliged, nor even particularly equipped, to develop an argument for
them. Skytop Meadow Cmty. Ass’n, Inc. v. Paige, 177 A.3d 377, 385 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2017).
We do note with particularity, as the Board points out, that Claimant has not sought nunc pro
tunc relief before the Board or in his brief to this Court. Thus, any potential request for such relief
is waived. See Lewis v. Unemployment Comp. Bd. of Rev., 42 A.3d 375, 379 n.8 (Pa. Cmwlth.
2012) (issues not raised before Board are waived); Com. v. Johnson, 985 A2d 915, 924 (Pa. 2009)
(“where an appellate brief . . . fails to develop [an] issue[] in any meaningful fashion capable of
review, that claim is waived”).
4
IN THE COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA
Abdul Majeed Faheem, :
Petitioner :
:
v. : 1393 C.D. 2023
:
Unemployment Compensation :
Board of Review, :
Respondent :
ORDER
AND NOW, this 18th day of November, 2024, the order of the
Unemployment Compensation Board of Review is AFFIRMED.
_____________________________________
BONNIE BRIGANCE LEADBETTER,
President Judge Emerita