Lee v. Employment Security Commission, 346 Mich. 171

Summary

The Supreme Court of Michigan construed sections 16 and 32a of the Michigan Employment Security Act concerning refunds of erroneously collected contributions and the finality of liability determinations. The court held that voluntary payments not involving a disputed issue were governed by section 16, allowing an employer to seek a refund within three years of payment despite the earlier unchallenged liability determination. The circuit court’s judgment ordering a refund was affirmed without costs.

Holdings

1. Section 16 governs payments of contributions that were voluntarily made and accepted and were not matters in dispute; section 32a's fifteen-day and one-year limitations apply to contested determinations or disputed issues.
2. Lee was entitled to a refund because he applied within the three-year period prescribed by section 16 for contributions erroneously collected.

Questions Presented

1. Whether payments of employment-security contributions voluntarily made and accepted, without an ongoing dispute, are governed by section 16's three-year refund provision rather than section 32a's deadlines for challenging a disputed determination.
2. Whether the Commission's earlier liability determination, which Lee did not challenge within fifteen days, barred his later application for a refund of contributions paid pursuant to that determination.

Disposition

affirmed