In re the Claim of Tommasi

—Appeal from a decision of the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board, filed September 26, 1996, which, inter alia, ruled that claimant was ineligible to receive unemployment insurance benefits because he was not totally unemployed.

Claimant was employed in the sheet metal industry until he was laid off for lack of work. The record discloses that while he was collecting unemployment insurance benefits, claimant *741formed his own corporation, M & A Metals, Inc., of which claimant was president, a 49% shareholder and the principal employee. The Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board ruled that claimant…