In a unique case where school bus drivers were working for a school district and an intermediate school district with two different schedules, the Court of Appeals ruled in a published decision on Friday that for the purposes of deciding whether the drivers qualify for unemployment benefits when they aren't driving in the summer, the drivers don't qualify as long as they can go back to driving for their main employer in the fall.

In Susan Adams v. West Ottawa Public Schools, (COA docket No. 272184), bus drivers maintain in their appeal that they are eligible for unemployment benefits over the summer because for more than 30 years, they had worked during the summer months pursuant to a contract they bargained for with their union to provide bussing services to the Ottawa Intermediate School District, which operates year-round. In 2003, the bus drivers were told that the intermediate district would begin using a private company for transportation, and they then sought to collect unemployment benefits for the summer lapse of employment, which were denied.

The trial court upheld the denial because the summer fell within the unemployment law's "school denial period," which essentially says that a school employee isn't eligible for unemployment benefits for a lapse in employment between 2 consecutive academic years if he or she is assured of employment in the academic year that follows the break in employment.

Source: Gongwer News Service, 1/4/08