Vogue v. Administrator, Unemployment Compensation Act

Citations

• 344 Conn. 321

Syllabus

The plaintiff employer, V Co., appealed to the trial court from the decision of the Employment Security Board of Review, which upheld the decision of an appeals referee of the Employment Security Appeals Division that a tattoo artist, S, was V Co.'s employee and that V Co. was liable under the Unemployment Compensation Act (§ 31-222 et seq.) for contributions to the state's unemployment compensation fund based on S's wages. V Co. leased retail space in a shopping mall, where it sold body jewelry and provided body piercing and body art services. Since 2013, S provided tattoo services to the customers of V Co. from a back room on V Co.'s premises. In 2016, the defendant, the administrator of the Unemployment Compensation Act, audited V Co. and determined that S was V Co.'s employee rather than an independent contractor, as V Co. had claimed. The appeals referee sustained that decision classifying S as an employee, finding, inter alia, that S did not pay rent to use the back room, S performed tattoo services only during store hours, which were estab- lished by V Co., and V Co. advertised on its website and Facebook page that customers could receive tattoo services at its store. Thereafter, V Co. appealed to the board of review, which concluded that V Co. had 322 AUGUST, 2022 344 Conn. 321 Vogue v. Administrator, Unemployment Compensation Act failed to satisfy any of the three prongs of the ABC test, as set forth in § 31-222 (a) (1) (B) (ii), which governs the determination of whether services performed by an individual constitute employment under the act. Specifically, the board of review determined that the tattoo services provided by S were performed within V Co.'s usual course of business, as required by part B of the ABC test, and noted that V Co. described itself on its website as a one-stop destination for piercing and tattoo services and that S was the only individual performing tattoo services for V Co. Thereafter, the trial court rendered judgment dismissing V