Oregon Administrative Rules › Chapter 471 - EMPLOYMENT DEPARTMENT › Division 30 - UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE BENEFITS AND CLAIMS › Section 471-030-0038 - Work Separations, Job Referrals and Job Refusals

Current through Register Vol. 63, No. 7, July 1, 2024
(1)
(a) As
			 used in ORS
			 657.176(2)(a),
			 (b) and (c) and sections (1) through (5) of
			 this rule the term "work" means the continuing relationship between an employer
			 and an employee. An employment relationship exists even in circumstances where
			 the work performed is not subject employment as set forth in ORS Chapter 657.
			 This section does not apply where no employment relationship exists because the
			 worker is an independent contractor or operating an independently established
			 business. With the exception of the provisions of ORS
			 657.221(2)(a),
			 the date an individual is separated from work is the date the employer-employee
			 relationship is severed. In the case of individuals working for temporary
			 agencies, employee leasing companies, or under a governmental program where a
			 state agency serves as the employer of record for individuals performing home
			 care services, the employment relationship shall be deemed severed at the time
			 that a work assignment ends.
(b) In
			 the case of absence due to labor dispute, the employee is separated from work
			 on the date there is a complete dissociation from all participation in the
			 labor dispute and no re-employment rights are claimed.
(c) As used in this rule, "wantonly
			 negligent" means indifference to the consequences of an act or series of
			 actions, or a failure to act or a series of failures to act, where the
			 individual acting or failing to act is conscious of his or her conduct and knew
			 or should have known that his or her conduct would probably result in a
			 violation of the standards of behavior which an employer has the right to
			 expect of an employee.
(d) As used
			 in this rule, the following standards apply to determine whether an "isolated
			 instance of poor judgment" occurred:
(A) The
			 act must be isolated. The exercise of poor judgment must be a single or
			 infrequent occurrence rather than a repeated act or pattern of other willful or
			 wantonly negligent behavior.
(B)
			 The act must involve judgment. A judgment is an evaluation resulting from
			 discernment and comparison. Every conscious decision to take an action (to act
			 or not to act) in the context of an employment relationship is a judgment for
			 purposes of OAR 471-030-0038(3).
(C) The act must involve poor judgment. A
			 decision to willfully violate an employer's reasonable standard of behavior is
			 poor judgment. A conscious decision to take action that results in a wantonly
			 negligent violation of an employer's reasonable standard of behavior is poor
			 judgment. A conscious decision not to comply with an unreasonable employer
			 policy is not misconduct.
(D) Acts
			 that violate the law, acts that are tantamount to unlawful conduct, acts that
			 create irreparable breaches of trust in the employment relationship or
			 otherwise make a continued employment relationship impossible exceed mere poor
			 judgment and do not fall within the exculpatory provisions of OAR
			 471-030-0038(3).
(e) For
			 purposes of this rule, "compelling family reasons" means:
(A) Domestic violence, as defined in OAR
			 471-030-0150, which causes the individual reasonably to believe that the
			 individual's continued employment would jeopardize the safety of the individual
			 or a member of the individual's immediate family; or
(B) The illness or disability of a member of
			 the individual's immediate family necessitates care by another and the
			 individual's employer does not accommodate the employee's request for time off;
			 or
(C) The need to accompany the
			 individual's spouse or domestic partner;
(i)
			 To a place from which it is impractical for such individual to commute;
			 and
(ii) Due to a change in
			 location of the spouse's or domestic partner's employment.
(f) As used in OAR 471-030-0150  and this rule, "a member of the individual's immediate family" includes
			 spouses, domestic partners, parents, and minor children under the age of 18,
			 including a foster child, stepchild or adopted child.