Jolene Van Wyhe, Relator v. Thermospas Hot Tub Products, Inc., Department of Employment and Economic Development
Case Details
- Status — whether other courts must follow this ruling
- Unpublished
- Procedural Posture — the stage the case had reached
- appeal
Related Laws
No specific laws identified for this ruling.
Outcome
The Minnesota Court of Appeals reversed the unemployment-law judge's decision, finding that Van Wyhe did not perform services for 32 hours per week merely by being on call at home without actively working, and therefore was eligible for unemployment benefits.
What This Ruling Means
Van Wyhe v. Thermospas: Court Rules Being "On Call" at Home Doesn't Count as Full-Time Work
This case involved Jolene Van Wyhe, who worked for Thermospas Hot Tub Products and applied for unemployment benefits after losing her job. The Department of Employment and Economic Development initially denied her benefits, claiming she had worked 32 hours per week and therefore didn't qualify. However, Van Wyhe argued that much of those "work hours" consisted of simply being on call at home, not actively working.
The Minnesota Court of Appeals sided with Van Wyhe. The court ruled that merely being available to take calls at home does not count as actively performing work services. They found that Van Wyhe had not actually worked 32 hours per week, making her eligible for unemployment benefits.
This decision matters for workers because it clarifies an important distinction: being on call or available to work is different from actually working. If you're required to be reachable but aren't actively performing job duties, those hours may not count toward your total work time for unemployment benefit purposes. This protects workers from having their benefit eligibility unfairly reduced due to passive availability requirements.
This summary was generated to explain the ruling in plain English and is not legal advice.
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