Opinion ID: 1375473
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Hardin's absence from June 11-14, 1994

Text: In reaching its decision that Hardin was discharged based on a totality of circumstances based on [Hardin's] excessive absences due to illness[,] the circuit court specifically found that [United's] termination of [Hardin] was based on her lack of dependability and not for any misconduct as a result of the incident that occurred between June 11 and June 15, 1994. As previously stated, the record indicates that on June 11, 1994, Hardin left work two-and-one-half hours early in order to care for a sick friend residing in her home. Without requesting or receiving express permission, Hardin informed her supervisor that she was leaving work and later called to indicate she would not be returning that day. Thereafter, Hardin was absent from work for three days because she herself purportedly became ill as a result of the stress she suffered caring for her sick friend. When Hardin returned to work on June 15, 1994, she presented a note from her psychiatrist verifying her stress-related illness. United contends that Hardin's stress-related illness was simply not credible: [K]nowing that further absences could not be tolerated she left the job to care for a sick friend whom she hardly knew, to whom she owed no legal duty, who had a sister who could have managed to get help for him, and in addition to all of that refused medical help. In addition, Appellee Hardin could have taken or attempted other alternatives such as trading shifts with another employee which she had done in the past. Appellee Hardin's excuse that she was distraught over a person whom she hardly knew was simply too far fetched to be believable. Rather than calling her doctor as soon as possible she waited two days after leaving work[] to report of her illness and in the same call told the doctor that she had to return to work and requested a medical excuse.... The account given by Appellee Hardin was simply not credible.... We acknowledge that the legitimacy of Hardin's illness may be somewhat suspect insofar as Hardin testified that: (1) she never visited her psychiatrist for the June 12 through 14 absence; (2) the psychiatrist's evaluation of her condition was done over the telephone; and (3) she, not her psychiatrist, made the decision that she would return to work on June 15, 1994. However, we also note that Hardin's supervisor testified before both the SAO and the circuit court that United never challenges the legitimacy of an employee's medical excuse when verified by a doctor's note. Indeed, United never challenged the legitimacy of Hardin's June 12 through 14 stress-related illness claim. Consequently, as with Hardin's previous properly-verified absences due to illness, the suggestion that her June 12 through 14 absence due to stress-related illness demonstrated a wilful or wanton disregard of United's interests is untenable. However, Hardin was not ill when she made the volitional decision to leave work early on June 11 to care for her sick friend. United contends that in the context of Hardin's employment history, Hardin's decision to leave work early on June 11, 1994 constituted a wilful or wanton disregard of United's interests. As stated previously, the UID agreed, finding that, [s]ince you [(Hardin)] were aware that your job was in jeopardy due to your absences, your actions are considered to be in wilful disregard of the employer's best interests. You were therefore discharged for misconduct connected with work. [7] Implicit in the UID's finding was that Hardin's unilateral decision to leave work early on June 11 for personal reasons constituted an unexcused absence pursuant to HAR § 12-5-51(e). In Thurber v. Hillier & Wanless, P.A., 642 So.2d 75 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1994), a Florida court denied unemployment insurance benefits to an employee with a history of attendance problems who, like Hardin, was discharged for leaving work early on one occasion without explicit authorization to attend to personal matters: An employee has a responsibility to report for work as scheduled, without allowing personal circumstances to interfere with the conditions of employment. Considering the counseling so close to the time of discharge ... the claimant's early departure [at noon] without authorization amount[s] to a breach of her duties and obligations to the employer and demonstrated a disregard for the employer's interests. Under the circumstances, it must be concluded that the claimant was discharged for misconduct within the meaning of the unemployment compensation law. [8] Id. at 76 (emphasis added). Similarly, in Fritzo v. Commonwealth Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 59 Pa.Cmwlth. 268, 429 A.2d 1215 (1981), a Pennsylvania court found willful misconduct based on a scenario analogous to the instant case: The claimant was a regular employee who fully comprehended her obligation to report for work on a given date. She testified her usual practice was to ask the floor lady's permission to be absent. In this instance, the claimant deviated from that practice; the record discloses that, rather than requesting permission to be absent, she unilaterally proclaimed her intention to take a vacation the week of August 20, 1979. The claimant never received either the explicit or implicit permission of her employer to be absent. The floor lady said nothing a reasonable person could construe as permission to be absent. Id. 429 A.2d at 1219 (emphasis added). The Fritzo court relied on the fact that the claimant never requested the employer's permission to be absent from work and therefore wilfully disregarded the employer's interest in upholding the unemployment compensation board's denial of unemployment insurance benefits due to wilful misconduct related to work. [9] Id. at 1217; see also Grispino v. Commonwealth Unemployment Compensation Bd. of Review, 81 Pa. Cmwlth. 51, 472 A.2d 288 (1984) (holding that single incident of leaving work early without receiving permission from supervisor to address problem of impending termination of electrical service to his home by employee on probation due to poor attendance record constituted willful misconduct related to work justifying denial of unemployment insurance benefits); Dulgerian v. Commonwealth Unemployment Compensation Bd. of Review, 64 Pa.Cmwlth. 342, 439 A.2d 1342 (1982) (holding that single incident of failing to return to work after doctor's visit without permission due to employee's professed anxiety after being informed she may have skin cancer constituted willful misconduct related to work justifying denial of unemployment insurance benefits). Several other jurisdictions have also held that a single incident of absenteeism can constitute willful misconduct justifying denial of unemployment benefits. Tuff, 520 N.W.2d at 486 ([e]ven a single unexcused absence may constitute misconduct [10]  (citing Del Dee Foods, Inc. v. Miller, 390 N.W.2d 415, 418 (Minn.Ct.App.1986)); Blau v. Masters Restaurant Assocs., Inc., 345 N.W.2d 791, 794 (Minn.Ct.App.1984)); Gunderson v. Libbey Glass, 412 So.2d 656, 658-59 (La.Ct.App. 1982) (Absence from work without sufficient reason, particularly in the face of warnings by the employer, may amount to willful misconduct [11] so as to preclude an employee discharged therefor from obtaining unemployment benefits.); DiGeronimo v. Ross, 53 A.D.2d 797, 385 N.Y.S.2d 172, 173 (1976) (holding that leaving work early without permission, after having been previously warned, constitutes misconduct). We agree with the UID that Hardin, after numerous counseling sessions and notices from United regarding her poor dependability, knew or should have known that her job would be in jeopardy if she chose to leave work early without permission on June 11, 1994. Accordingly, we hold that Hardin's conscious decision to leave work early on June 11 in the face of this risk constituted an unexcused absence which demonstrated a wilful or wanton disregard of the employer's interests[,] HAR § 12-5-51(c), thereby disqualifying Hardin for unemployment insurance benefits. Consequently, we also hold that the circuit court's finding that Hardin was not discharged for misconduct connected with work was clearly erroneous.