Court of Appeals Concludes that Inclusion of a Bonus in Rate Calculation is not Irrational, Illogical or Wholly Unjustified.
Over the years, the Pella Corporation (formerly Rolscreen) has paid yearly bonuses to its employees. Although the bonuses differed in amount each year and there was no absolute certainty that the bonuses would be paid each year, those bonuses have been paid every year, since at least the late 1980s. In Noel v. Rolscreen , 475 N.W.2d 666, 667 (Iowa App. 1991), the court affirmed the commissioner's conclusion that excluded the bonus from a claimant's gross earnings. Following that case, Pella repeatedly pointed to Noel as excluding their bonuses from consideration in determining gross weekly wages. The commissioner would sometimes include the bonus, sometimes not, and oftentimes, the cases would proceed to district court. This is precisely the situation in Pella Corp. v. Minar , No. 13-1616 (Iowa App. Aug. 13, 2014). The court in Minar posited the issue as whether the agency's inclusion of the bonuses in gross earnings was "irrational, illogical, or w...