Henry A. Golden v. Industrial Commission

Without success, claimant exhausted all administrative procedures and appeals provided by the Missouri Employment Security
Law (Ch. 288) 1 to obtain unemployment benefits for three weeks in February 1973. The result of claimant's appeal to the
circuit court was likewise not of his liking and he appealed to this tribunal for succor. § 288.210. At the time of unemployment, claimant was a 30-year-old married college student enrolled at Baptist Bible College in Springfield.
He had been a student at the college since September 1971 where classes required his attendance from 7:30 a.m. to 12:20 p.m.,
Monday through Friday. From and after September 1971 (except for the period of unemployment, supra) claimant had been employed
in jobs that did not conflict with his classroom hours. Because of his need to attend classes during the stated hours, claimant
was available for work only in the "afternoon and evenings, or a third shift." Denial of benefits was predicated solely on
findings that claimant was not "available for work" as required by § 288.040-1(2). 2 In part, the reason for
the finding was: "The law has no special eligibility provisions for students attending school. A student must meet the same
availability requirements as any other claimant his personal circumstances must leave him free to accept any full-time suitable
work when it is offered to him; he must not place unreasonable restrictions upon the ... hours or other working conditions
which he will accept ... . By reason of his class attendance this claimant was not in a position to accept full-time work
during all normal working hours."