Opinion ID: 2464470
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Hoendermis's Termination

Text: APT terminated Hoendermis's employment on January 10, 2006 as a result of Phelps's perception that Hoendermis was unable to work effectively with or get along with other individuals employed in the clinic and that Hoendermis had failed to take the necessary steps to resolve the problem. The immediate precipitating event was an argument about invoices that occurred the week before between Hoendermis and Lynn Crockett, APT's part-time bookkeeper. After the argument Hoendermis left the office for approximately two hours. Phelps asserted that when she asked Hoendermis to discuss the incident with her, Hoendermis refused to speak with Phelps when Phelps was available. Hoendermis asserted that she did not refuse to speak with Phelps. Phelps described other problems that Hoendermis had working with others. She stated that Hoendermis would get upset with other employees and continually go after them, complaining about them to other employees at the expense of her work. Hoendermis complained frequently to Phelps about her problems with other employees. Phelps asserted that she discussed these problems with Hoendermis several times over a matter of years. After her termination Hoendermis filed for unemployment insurance benefits with the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, but was denied. She appealed the denial to the department's appeal tribunal. In March 2006 the appeal tribunal affirmed the denial of benefits, concluding that Hoendermis was discharged for misconduct because she continued to get into arguments with co-workers after Phelps asked her to stop.