ROBINSON, J.
The plaintiff, Jason Robert's, Inc., appeals from the judgment of the trial court affirming the decision of the employment security board of review (board), which found that the plaintiff was liable for unemployment compensation contributions with regard to the claimant, Michael Derose.
The record reveals the following facts and procedural history. The plaintiff is a concrete business. During the years 1998, 1999 and 2000, the plaintiff employed Derose as a concrete artisan. While Derose was working for the plaintiff as an employee, he asked for a raise in salary. In order
The agreement provided the following: the plaintiff would do all of the scheduling when a job was sold on its contract; Derose had to contact the plaintiff on a daily basis for a status report on each job; Derose had to purchase the plaintiff's uniforms and wear the uniform each day; the plaintiff retained the right to cancel the agreement if Derose engaged in certain conduct, which included, inter alia, use of drugs, use of alcohol during the workday, intoxication on the job, continued absence or tardiness, failure to meet installation goals and insubordination; Derose had to notify the plaintiff one hour prior to his normal arrival time if he was to be absent on that day; Derose had to lease a truck from the plaintiff and was required to maintain the truck, which included waxing the exterior of the vehicle and cleaning the interior of the vehicle; and Derose could not compete, directly or indirectly, with the plaintiff for the term of the agreement and for a period of two years thereafter.
Derose was a licensed dealer of the plaintiff during the years 2001 and 2002. During those years, the plaintiff classified Derose as an independent contractor. At the end of 2002, Derose terminated the agreement because the arrangement had become unprofitable for him. After terminating the agreement, Derose filed a claim for benefits under the Unemployment Compensation Act, General Statutes § 31-222 et seq. (act). This claim for benefits caused the defendant, the administrator of the act, to issue a missing wage assignment. Pursuant to the missing wage assignment, Robert E. Stern, a field auditor of the employment security division of the state department of labor, requested that the plaintiff make available its books and records for an audit. On April 25, 2003, after Stern had conducted his audit, he issued his written report, wherein he concluded that Derose was an employee during the years 2001 and 2002. In a letter dated April 29, 2003, the defendant informed the plaintiff of this determination and that there would be an assessment for the contributions due in the amount of $4366.03 plus interest. On May 16, 2003, the plaintiff appealed this determination to the appeals division, and, on April 17, 2007, a hearing was held before an appeals referee. On September 12, 2007, after having made extensive findings of fact, the appeals referee affirmed the determination. In its decision, the appeals referee applied § 31-222(a)(1)(B)(ii),
On September 20, 2007, the plaintiff appealed the decision of the appeals referee to the board pursuant to General Statutes § 31-249.
On appeal, the plaintiff claims that the court should have determined that the board's decision resulted from the application of the incorrect legal standard to the facts found. Specifically, the plaintiff claims that the board should have applied § 42-133e (b),
Our standard of review of appeals of this nature is well settled. "To the extent that an [appeal] . . . concerns findings of fact, a court is limited to a review of the record certified and filed by the board of review. The court must not retry facts nor hear evidence. . . . If, however, the issue is one of law, the court has the broader responsibility of determining whether the administrative action resulted from an incorrect application of the law to the facts found or could not reasonably or logically have followed from such facts. Although the court may not substitute its own conclusions for those of the administrative board, it retains the ultimate obligation to determine whether the administrative action was unreasonable, arbitrary, illegal or an abuse of discretion." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Mattatuck Museum-Mattatuck Historical Society v. Administrator, 238 Conn. 273, 276, 679 A.2d 347 (1996).
We conclude that the board applied the correct legal standard to the facts found. The sole question before the appeals referee and the board was whether Derose was an employee of the plaintiff for unemployment compensation purposes. To answer this question, the referee and the board applied well settled unemployment compensation law. "An individual may receive unemployment compensation benefits if he or she was an employee within the meaning of the act. In addition to defining the employer-employee relationship pursuant to the common law, § 31-222(a)(1)(B) provides that individuals who perform services for others are presumed to be employees, unless the recipient of the services (enterprise) satisfies . . . the ABC test. In order for an enterprise to demonstrate that an individual was not an employee, and that the enterprise therefore has no liability for unemployment taxes under the act, the enterprise must prove that the individual satisfies each of the three prongs of the ABC test. This test is conjunctive; failure to satisfy any one of the prongs will render the enterprise subject to the act. . . . Under the ABC test, an individual will not be considered an employee if: [A] such individual has been and will continue to be free from control and direction in connection with the performance of such service, both under his contract for the performance of service and in fact; and [B] such service is performed either outside the usual course of the business for which the service is performed or is performed outside of all the places of business of the enterprise for which the service is performed; and [C] such individual is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, profession or business of the same nature as that involved in the service performed. . . ." (Citation omitted; emphasis in original; internal quotation marks omitted.) Id., at 277-78, 679 A.2d 347. Having applied this law to the extensive facts found, the board properly determined that the plaintiff failed to satisfy all of the prongs of the ABC test and, consequently, that Derose was an employee.
The plaintiff contends, however, that had the board applied § 42-133e (b) to the facts found, it would have determined that a franchise agreement existed and, furthermore, that the ABC test would have been inapplicable. Specifically, the plaintiff argues that a finding that a franchise agreement exists between the parties exempts the relationship from the purview of the act. The plaintiff neither cites, nor
The judgment is affirmed.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.