JACQUELINE A. CRAWFORD v. BOARD OF REVIEW, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, et al.

 

NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE

APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION

SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY

APPELLATE DIVISION

DOCKET NO. A-2456-05T12456-05T1

JACQUELINE A. CRAWFORD,

Petitioner-Appellant,

v.

BOARD OF REVIEW, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR,

and TOYS "R" US - DELAWARE, INC.,

Respondents-Respondents.

___________________________________

 

Submitted September 5, 2006 - Decided September 14, 2006

Before Judges Payne and Gilroy.

On appeal from a Final Decision of the Board of Review, Department of Labor, 90,740.

Jacqueline A. Crawford, appellant pro se.

Anne Milgram, Acting Attorney General, attorney for respondent (Patrick DeAlmeida, Assistant Attorney General, of counsel; Ellen A. Reichart, Deputy Attorney General, on the brief).

PER CURIAM

Claimant, Jacqueline A. Crawford, appeals from a final determination of the Board of Review (Board), finding her ineligible for unemployment compensation benefits. We affirm.

Claimant was employed by Toys "R" Us (employer) as a human resource assistant from October 1, 1984, through September 2, 2005. On August 23, 2005, claimant gave her employer notice, advising that her last day of work would be September 2, 2005. Claimant left employment because she had been having transportation problems commuting from her home in Irvington, New Jersey, to her office in Flanders, New Jersey. Although claimant possessed a motor vehicle, she was unable to afford the necessary mechanical repairs needed after her husband died in November 2004. After discussing the transportation problem with her supervisor, claimant elected to take an early retirement from employment.

On September 11, 2005, claimant filed a claim for unemployment compensation benefits. On October 4, 2005, a Deputy Claims Examiner found claimant ineligible for benefits from August 20, 2005, on the grounds that she had left work voluntarily without good cause attributable to the work. On October 7, 2005, claimant filed an appeal with the Appeal Tribunal. A hearing was conducted before the Appeal Tribunal on November 2, 2005. On November 16, 2005, the Appeal Tribunal issued its decision, determining claimant disqualified for unemployment benefits from August 28, 2005, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 43:21-5(a) and N.J.A.C. 12:17-9.1(e)(1). On November 19, 2005, claimant filed an administrative appeal from the decision of the Appeal Tribunal. On December 29, 2005, the Board affirmed the decision of the Appeal Tribunal.

Appellate courts have a limited role in reviewing decisions of an administrative agency. Campbell v. Dep't of Civil Serv., 39 N.J. 556, 562 (1963); State-Operated Sch. Dist. of Newark v. Gaines, 309 N.J. Super. 327, 331 (App. Div.) (citing Henry v. Rahway State Prison, 81 N.J. 571, 579-80 (1980)), certif. denied, 156 N.J. 381 (1998). There should not be an independent assessment of the evidence by the appellate court. In re Taylor, 158 N.J. 644, 656 (1999). The appellate court must accord a strong presumption of reasonableness to the decision of an administrative agency. Smith v. Ricci, 89 N.J. 514, 525 (1982); City of Newark v. Natural Res. Council, 82 N.J. 530, 539, cert. denied, 449 U.S. 983, 101 S. Ct. 400, 66 L. Ed. 2d 245 (1980). Thus, the determinations of the administrative agencies must be given great deference. State v. Johnson, 42 N.J. 146, 159 (1964). We cannot overturn an agency's decision that is based on sufficient evidence, even if this court would have reached a different result. Clowes v. Terminix, Int'l., Inc., 109 N.J. 575, 578 (1998); Outland v. Bd. of Trs., 326 N.J. Super. 395, 400 (App. Div. 1999).

Conversely, a reviewing court is not bound to uphold an agency determination unsupported by sufficient evidence. Henry, supra, 81 N.J. at 579-80. Courts are not to act simply as a rubber-stamp of an agency's decision where it is not supported by substantial credible evidence in the record as a whole or found to be arbitrary, capricious or unreasonable. Ibid.; Marro v. Dep't of Civil Serv., 57 N.J. Super. 335, 346 (App. Div. 1959).

We are satisfied that the record in this matter contains substantial, credible evidence, supporting the Board's determination that claimant is disqualified from receipt of unemployment compensation benefits, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 43:21-59(a) and N.J.A.C. 12:17-9.1(e)(1). Claimant left employment because she no longer had a reliable means of transportation to and from work. Such reason is personal, and does not constitute good cause attributable to the work for claimant to have left employment.

Affirmed.

 

(continued)

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A-2456-05T1

September 14, 2006