Clayton v. State

OPINION

This appeal requires us to decide whether the Commissioner of Labor abused his discretion in requiring George 0. Clayton to pay unemployment insurance taxes 1 on payments he made to contract workers. We conclude that the commissioner acted permissibly.

In 1974, Clayton was the sole proprietor of North Nenana Wood Specialties, whose business was the cutting and marketing of logs. That year, Clayton bid on and received a lease to harvest timber from a state-owned parcel near Nenana called NC-88. He therefore engaged a number of persons to cut the wood and deliver it to his mill in Nenana.…