GERHSON MATEO v COMMISSIONER OF LABOR

Calendar Date: April 3, 2018Before: McCarthy, J.P., Egan Jr., Lynch, Devine and Aarons, JJ.__________Gerhson Mateo, San Juan, Puerto Rico, appellant pro se.Barbara D. Underwood, Attorney General, New York City (DawnA. Foshee of counsel), for respondent.__________Appeal from a decision of the Unemployment Insurance AppealBoard, filed July 19, 2017, which dismissed claimant’s appealfrom the decision of an Administrative Law Judge.Claimant was initially disqualified from receivingunemployment insurance benefits on the ground that he voluntarilyleft his employment without good cause. He requested a hearingat which he failed to appear despite notice and several phonecalls by the Administrative Law Judge (hereinafter ALJ) to thenumber that he had provided. The ALJ held claimant in defaultand sustained the initial determination. Claimant applied toreopen the default decision, albeit without any explanation forhis default, then failed to appear at a second hearing despiteadvance notice. The ALJ again held claimant in default, deniedhis application to reopen and sustained the initial determinationdenying benefits. Claimant appealed to the UnemploymentInsurance Appeal Board. The Board found that claimant had notoffered any explanation for his failure to appear at thehearings. Noting that no appeal lies from a default, the Boarddetermined that claimant was statutorily precluded from takingthe appeal and dismissed it.We affirm. Claimant has never offered any explanation orshown good cause for his multiple defaults before the ALJ and, onthis appeal, only addresses the merits of the initialdetermination (see 12 NYCRR 461.4 [c]; 461.8). Inasmuch asclaimant had a right to appeal to the Board from the ALJ’sdecision only if he had “appeared at the hearing” (Labor Law§ 621 [1]), the Board correctly determined that he was precludedfrom taking an appeal (see Matter of Dutta [Commissioner ofLabor], 92 AD3d 1062, 1063 [2012], lv dismissed 20 NY3d 915[2012]). Accordingly, claimant’s challenges addressed to themerits of the initial determination are not before us.McCarthy, J.P., Egan Jr., Lynch, Devine and Aarons, JJ.,concur.ORDERED that the decision is affirmed, without costs.ENTER:Robert D. MaybergerClerk of the Court