ALBANY, N.Y. (CN) - The sole owner of a golf pro shop can file for unemployment insurance benefits in the off-season, a New York appellate division ruled.
Brent D. Smith ran the Tupper Lake Country Club pro shop and received $14,205 in unemployment benefits from 2002-2006. The shop is open from April 15 to Oct. 15 each year.
The Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board declared him ineligible and charged him for an overpayment of benefits. The appellate division agreed that Smith was not totally unemployed, because he occasionally wrote checks or attended trade shows in the off-season.
However, the appellate division ruled that Smith was not guilty of willful misrepresentation, because his "sporadic and minimal activities were not so concerted or time-consuming to have put him on notice that his certification of lack of employment was false."
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