Gust v. Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

OPINION

SCHUMACHER, Judge.

Relators, who worked as firefighters for respondent Department of Natural Resources (DNR), were denied unemployment benefits on the basis that their services did not constitute covered “employment” under the Minnesota jobs and training laws. Re-lators obtained a writ of certiorari, challenging the denial of benefits by the Commissioner of Jobs and Training. We affirm.

FACTS

Respondent DNR is a state agency with offices in Bemidji, Minnesota. Each fire season, the DNR hires “smoke chasers,” 1 whose primary job is to suppress or control fires. When they are not fighting…