Case Name: Timothy MASON, Sr., Petitioner, v. LOAD KING MANUFACTURING COMPANY and the Florida Unemployment Appeals Commission, Respondents
Court: Florida Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 2000-05-11
Citations: 758 So. 2d 649
Docket Number: No. SC93356
Parties: Timothy MASON, Sr., Petitioner, v. LOAD KING MANUFACTURING COMPANY and the Florida Unemployment Appeals Commission, Respondents.
Judges: HARDING, C.J., and WELLS, LEWIS and QUINCE, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 758
Pages: 649–661

Head Matter:
Timothy MASON, Sr., Petitioner, v. LOAD KING MANUFACTURING COMPANY and the Florida Unemployment Appeals Commission, Respondents.
No. SC93356.
Supreme Court of Florida.
May 11, 2000.
Leatrice Williams Walton and Mitchell S. Ritchie, Jacksonville, Florida, for Petitioner.
John D. Maher, Tallahassee, Florida, for Respondents.

Opinion:
PER CURIAM.
We have for review Mason v. Load King Manufacturing Co., 715 So.2d 279 (Fla. 1st DCA 1998), on the basis of express and direct conflict with the opinion in Blumetti v. Unemployment Appeals Commission, 675 So.2d 689 (Fla. 5th DCA 1996). We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(3), Fla. Const. For the following reasons, we approve the rule in Mason finding that unemployment benefits are appropriately denied when an employer can clearly demonstrate substantial and excessive unexcused absenteeism by an employee as the basis for discharge, regardless of whether the incident immediately precipitating the employee's actual termination is excused.
PROCEEDINGS TO DATE
Timothy Mason worked as a shear operator for Load King Manufacturing Company from September 26, 1996, until his discharge for repeated attendance violations on February 13, 1997. Load King has a progressive disciplinary policy which prohibits excessive absenteeism and tardiness. Pursuant to the policy, the employer applies a point system to each employee's attendance record. If, for example, an employee accumulates a total of ten points within a twelve-month period, that employee may be subject to discipline, including termination. Mason signed Load King's company manual representing that he had read and understood Load King's policies and rules, which included this attendance policy.
From September 26, 1996, through February 1, 1997, a period of approximately four months, Mason received eleven points, all resulting from numerous absences and late arrivals. Hence, his point total during the four-month period already exceeded the maximum points allowed for a one-year period. On January 29, 1997, his supervisor counseled him about his attendance and gave him a written warning. Subsequently, Load King suspended him from work on February 3 and 4, and warned him that his job was in jeopardy. After this suspension, on February 8, 1997, Mason left work early, although with the approval of his immediate supervisor, because of personal illness. Five days later, on February 13, Mason was late because the individual with whom he rode to work did not pick him up and he was forced to walk. Mason was discharged on February 13 due to his attendance problems.
On February 20, 1997, Mason filed a claim for unemployment compensation benefits. In a Notice of Claims Determination dated March 13, 1997, Mason was found to be disqualified for unemployment compensation benefits because of misconduct connected with his work. Mason appealed, but this decision was affirmed by the appeals referee, and then subsequently affirmed by the Unemployment Appeals Commission. Finally, Mason sought review in the First District, which affirmed the prior rulings and held that an employer's burden of proving misconduct on the part of the employee can be met by proof of the worker's employment history of excessive and unauthorized absenteeism, which may otherwise be tantamount to misconduct. See Mason, 715 So.2d at 280-81.
Mason has sought review here based on alleged conflict with the Fifth District's decision in Blumetti, which found that the employer had not satisfied its burden of proving misconduct in a similar situation because it found the incidents of alleged misconduct immediately precipitating the employee's termination excusable. See Blumetti, 675 So.2d at 691. Both Blumetti and Mason rely on our decision in Tallahassee Housing Authority v. Florida Unemployment Appeals Commission, 483 So.2d 413 (Fla.1986).
Tallahassee Housing Authority
In Tallahassee Housing Authority, an employee, Barron, applied for unemployment compensation after his discharge from the Tallahassee Housing Authority. The claims adjudicator found that Barron was discharged for excessive absenteeism, which constituted misconduct connected with work; therefore, he was not entitled to benefits. Subsequently, at an eviden-tiary hearing before the appeals referee, the Tallahassee Housing Authority presented a three-page summary of Barron's attendance records as proof of his excessive absenteeism. Based on the attendance record reflected in this summary, the referee affirmed the claims adjudicator's finding that Barron was guilty of misconduct and not entitled to unemployment compensation. The Unemployment Appeals Commission reversed, finding that the summary relied on by the referee was inadmissable hearsay.
On appeal, the First District rejected the Housing Authority's argument that a showing of continued absenteeism alone is sufficient to justify termination. See Tallahassee Housing Auth. v. Florida Unemployment Appeals Comm'n, 463 So.2d 1216 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985). More specifically, the court wrote:
Even accepting the summary as admissible evidence, we affirm the commission's reversal of the appeals referee on the basis of the commission's application of the law to this case. In our view, although excessive absenteeism or tardiness may constitute misconduct which justifies termination of employment and therefore precludes collection of unemployment compensation benefits, Sanchez v. Department of Labor, Etc., 411 So.2d 313 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982), an employer has the burden under section 443.036(24), Florida Statutes, to show misconduct with a preponderance of proof that the absences were indeed unexcusable and in detriment to the employer's interests.
Id. at 1218. However, upon review in this Court, we expressly rejected the reasoning of the First District and held:
We reject the reasoning of the district court in the instant case. In our view, excessive unauthorized absenteeism presumptively hampers the operation of a business and is inherently detrimental to an employer. We hold, therefore, that a finding of misconduct under section 443.036(24) is justified when an employer presents substantial competent evidence of an employee's excessive unauthorized absenteeism. Once excessive unauthorized absenteeism is established, the burden is on the employee to rebut the presumption that his absenteeism can be characterized as "misconduct" within the meaning of the statute.
Tallahassee Housing Authority, 483 So.2d at 414 (emphasis added). Even though we ultimately found no competent, substantial evidence to support a finding of misconduct, our ruling was based on the fact that the summary prepared by the Housing Authority was not admissible evidence. See id. at 415-16.
Blumetti
In Blumetti, the employee Jay Blumetti appealed the Unemployment Appeals Commission's denial of unemployment compensation benefits due to Blumetti's excessive tardiness. On appeal, the Fifth District noted that Blumetti had been terminated because of his tardiness record in June, July and August. At the end of June, he had received a written warning that any further tardiness or infractions could result in termination. On July 20, he received another written warning for leaving his job without permission. However, the court found that the employer relied primarily on two instances occurring on July 20 and August 6 to justify Blumet-ti's termination, and the court found inadequate evidence to support a conclusion that these incidents were unexcused and Blu-metti's fault.
The court cited our decision in Tallahassee Housing Authority, and held that in tardiness cases, the employer "must establish by a preponderance of the evidence that the former employee's tardiness was inexcusable and detrimental to the employer's interest." 675 So.2d at 690. Finding that neither of the two most recent instances on which the employer relied to justify Blumetti's termination could be characterized as wanton disregard for the employer's interests or a deliberate violation of the employer's rules to constitute misconduct, the court reversed the denial of Blumetti's unemployment compensation benefits. See id. at 691.
THIS CASE
In Mason, the First District was faced with a situation somewhat similar to the one faced by the Fifth District in Blumetti. Mason's two prior incidents before he was terminated-leaving work early because of personal illness and reporting to work late because his transportation failed to pick him up, were found to be excusable by the referee. Notwithstanding, the referee found that Mason's prior record evidenced a deliberate disregard of his duties and obligations to the employer. The First District agreed. The First District also acknowledged the decision in Blumetti, but found that it applied the wrong standard. Specifically, it stated: "We cannot agree with Blumetti that an employer's burden in establishing misconduct is met only by a showing that the conduct immediately precipitating the employee's termination from employment was inexcusable." Mason, 715 So.2d at 280.
As previously mentioned, the statutory provisions defining misconduct are the same today as they were in 1985. Section 443.036(26) defines misconduct as:
(a) Conduct evincing such willful or wanton disregard of an employer's interests as is found in deliberate violation or disregard of standards of behavior which the employer has the right to expect of his employee; or
(b) Carelessness or negligence of such a degree or recurrence as to manifest culpability, wrongful intent, or evil design or to show an intentional and substantial disregard of the employer's interests or of the employees duties and obligations to his employer.
In Tallahassee Housing Authority we held that an employer satisfies his burden of proving "misconduct under section 443.036(24) . when an employer presents substantial competent evidence of an employee's excessive unauthorized absenteeism." 483 So.2d at 414. Once an employer has proven an employee's excessive unauthorized absenteeism, the burden is properly shifted to the employee to rebut the presumption that his absenteeism can be characterized as misconduct. See id.
The shifting of the burden to the employee to disprove misconduct in Tallahassee Housing Authority was predicated upon the presentation of satisfactory proof by an employer of a serious' and identifiable pattern of excessive absenteeism or late arrivals. For example, to prove "excessive unauthorized absenteeism," an employer must prove more than one act. See e.g., Higgins v. Iowa Dep't of Job Service, 350 N.W.2d 187, 192 (Iowa 1984) (stating that the determination of whether "unexcused absenteeism" is "excessive" necessarily requires the consideration of past acts and warnings). It logically follows that the employee's entire course of conduct must be considered, not just the acts immediately precipitating the employee's discharge. In fact, at least one Florida case has found misconduct and denied unemployment compensation even when the final act leading directly to the employee's discharge was not proved by the employer. See C.F. Industries, Inc. v. Long, 364 So.2d 864 (Fla. 2d DCA 1978).
In order to prove misconduct under Tallahassee Housing Authority, employers have the burden of demonstrating both excessiveness and wilfulness in the employee's actions. The term "unauthorized" implicitly connotes an element of wilfulness because it means that the absences were unexcused and without the permission of the employer. By "unauthorized absences," we are generally referring to those absences where the employee has wilfully chosen to violate her fundamental obligation to an employer to come to work and carry out her assigned duties. Obviously, the failure of an employee to carry out his or her obligation can be devastating to the functioning of an employer's business. Excessiveness must also be proven. While we realize that excessiveness may well depend on factors such as the particular employment context and presence or absence of workplace guidelines, we do not deem it unreasonable to require an employer who seeks to deny a former employee unemployment compensation benefits to meet this burden.
In defining misconduct, courts are required to liberally construe the statute in favor of the employee. See Roberts v. Diehl, 707 So.2d 869 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998); Baptiste v. Waste Management, Inc., 701 So.2d 386 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997); Gilbert v. Department of Corrections, 696 So.2d 416 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997); Foote v. Unemployment Appeals Comm'n, 659 So.2d 1232 (Fla. 5th DCA 1995). Additionally, awards determinations must be made against the backdrop that the remedial aspect of the unemployment compensation statutory scheme requires a liberal construction in favor of awarding benefits. See St. Joe Paper Co. v. Gautreaux, 180 So.2d 668 (Fla. 1st DCA 1965). The denial of unemployment benefits is a very serious consequence with very serious repercussions for employees, adopted by the Legislature only to deter misconduct in the employment context. As such, awards determinations under this statutory scheme should not be taken lightly and should not be made via a mere technical and formalistic procedure.
Load King hired Mason with the expectation and on the reliance that he would comply with its attendance policy. Yet, in a period of just over four months, Mason was absent four times, late four times and left early one time. He accumulated more points under the company's attendance policy in this four-month period than the allotted yearly amount. As noted earlier, Mason accepted his position while on actual notice of the company's attendance policy. Given his history of unauthorized absenteeism with the company and the fact that within two weeks after having served a two-day suspension, Mason left early on one day and was late on another day, we agree that the record supports a finding of an established pattern of excessive absenteeism and tardiness sufficient to constitute misconduct and render Mason ineligible to receive benefits. See Thurber v. Hillier & Wanless, P.A., 642 So.2d 75 (Fla. 4th DCA 1994) (employee's absence from work without authorization constituted misconduct and rendered him ineligible for benefits); Sanchez v. Dep't of Labor & Employment Security, 411 So.2d 313 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982) (employee's failure to work minimum of forty hours during any of the four-month period he was employed together with an authorized absence from work constituted misconduct); Castillo v. Florida Dep't of Commerce, 253 So.2d 162 (Fla. 2d DCA 1971) (employee's continued absenteeism severely hampering the employer in carrying workload of the plant constituted misconduct for which unemployment compensation could be denied). Applying the standard espoused in Tallahassee Housing Authority, we find that Load King Manufacturing satisfied its burden of proof, and, as a result, Mason was properly terminated for misconduct as defined in section 443.036(26), Florida Statutes (1995).
Mason alleges that under the rule in C.F. Industries and the District Court's decision in the present case, an employer can in essence hold an employee hostage for any length of time, fire him for any reason, and then deny him unemployment benefits citing excessive unauthorized absenteeism as the reason. We find no merit to Mason's argument. When dealing with the unemployment compensation scheme, the referee must factor this length of time into his decision. In other words, in absenteeism cases, the more attenuated the precipitating acts leading to the employee's termination are from the established pattern of absenteeism, the harder it becomes for the employer to prove misconduct under the heavy burden established in Tallahassee Housing Authority and its progeny. Conversely, the opposite is true. The closer the final act leading to the discharge is to the pattern of absenteeism, the easier it should be for the employer to prove misconduct under the unemployment statutory scheme. Moreover, as in Tallahassee Housing Authority, we emphasize that before an award of unemployment benefits can be denied, the employer must prove misconduct by satisfying the heavy burden of proving "excessive unauthorized absenteeism."
We do not believe that the opinion in Blumetti necessarily conflicts with our holding in Tallahassee Housing Authority or the First District's holding in this case. Rather, we read the Blumetti opinion as finding a problem with the evidence of the employee's misconduct. In Blumetti the Fifth District acknowledged our holding in Tallahassee Housing Authority but held that the employer's proof was insufficient. Although in dicta the court stated that it would have probably affirmed the case had Blumetti's employer terminated him after he arrived to work a few minutes late in early August, following written warnings in June, the court went on to find that the employer had not proven that a number of the incidents primarily relied upon to prove misconduct were the employee's fault as claimed. See Blumetti, 675 So.2d at 691: Accordingly, the court implicitly held that the few instances of alleged misconduct remaining were insufficient to constitute excessive unauthorized absenteeism. Such a record contrasts sharply with the record here demonstrating misconduct regardless of the incidents immediately preceding Mason's discharge. The Blu-metti court did not say that the employer must prove that the conduct immediately precipitating the employee's termination was inexcusable in order to meet its burden of establishing misconduct. However, to the extent that the opinion may be read that way, as it apparently was by the First District here, we disapprove of such a requirement.
CONCLUSION
In light of this state's prior decisions, especially the standard set out by this Court in Tallahassee Housing Authority requiring the employer to prove "excessive unauthorized absenteeism," and the public policy considerations set out above, we approve the decision of the district court in this case and disapprove Blumetti to the extent it conflicts with the views expressed herein.
It is so ordered.
HARDING, C.J., and WELLS, LEWIS and QUINCE, JJ., concur.
SHAW, J., dissents with an opinion, in which ANSTEAD and PARIENTE, JJ., concur.
. An employee can be disqualified from receiving compensation benefits under section 443.101, Florida Statutes (1995), if it is found that the employee was terminated for misconduct as defined in section 443.036(26), Florida Statutes (1995). ' Under section 443.036(26), misconduct is defined as:
(a) Conduct evincing such willful or wanton disregard of an employer's interests as is found in deliberate violation or disregard of standards of behavior which the employer has the right to expect of his employee; or
(b) Carelessness or negligence of such a degree or recurrence as to manifest culpability, wrongful intent, or evil design or to show an intentional and substantial disregard of the employer's interests or of the employees duties and obligations to his employer.
. The definition of misconduct as provided in section 443.036(24) is the same as it was in 1985.
. Although Tallahassee Housing Authority dealt with absenteeism and Blumetti dealt with tardiness, they both deal with attendance problems and are sufficiently analogous to be treated the same. In fact, excessive tardiness has been held to constitute misconduct under the statute. See, e.g., Martinson v. Breit's Tower Service, Inc., 680 So.2d 599 (Fla. 3d DCA 1996); Sumlar v. Intermodal Services, Inc., 429 So.2d 364 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983); Sanchez v. Department of Labor & Employment Security, 411 So.2d 313 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982).
. In C.F. Industries, the employee was discharged for excessive tardiness, excessive absenteeism, violation of safety rules, failing to report an accident involving injury, and unsatisfactory performance. See id. at 865. In each case, the employee was given a warning. See id. The employee argued that because the final act leading to his termination (an accusation that the employee had falsified records) was not proven, he could not be found to have been discharged for misconduct associated with his work as defined by the statute. See id. However, even though the referee found that the employer had failed to prove that the employee had falsified records, the court held there was competent and substantial evidence to support the referee's finding that the employee was discharged for misconduct connected with his work. See id. at 866.
. As a matter of public policy, adopting the rule of the district court's decision in this case may actually favor employees in at least one significant way. In unemployment compensation cases, it appears that employers choose disciplinary measures less severe than termination, even in cases where if the employer had chosen to terminate the employee, a denial of unemployment benefits would have been justified. See, e.g., Mason, 715 So.2d at 279 (employee suspended before being terminated); Blumetti, 675 So.2d at 691 (employee received numerous warnings before finally being terminated); C.F. Industries, Inc., 364 So.2d at 865 (employee given warning or layoff after each incident of misconduct before finally being terminated). In cases where the employee has already exhibited a history of misconduct, our decision today encourages employers to continue to issue these warnings and suspensions to employees for violations of company attendance policies and to continue to work with these employees, rather than simply terminating them to avoid the liability of unemployment benefits.