Court Opinion

ID: 9574161
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:02:52.682873+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:44:09.573565
License: Public Domain

*1201HOWE, Justice
(concurring and dissenting):
I concur in the reversal. However, I take exception to the statements in the majority opinion that (1) “... claimant’s hunting on October 27 was not known to the employer at the time of his discharge. Fisher did not learn of that until claimant admitted it at the hearing, and therefore, claimant’s absence for deer hunting on the 27th could not have been the cause for his discharge. Under § 35-4-5(b)(l), it was error for the Board of Review to rely on that fact,” and (2) “If the decision [of the Board] were based on the absence of the 27th, the decision was clearly in error.” These statements overlook the fact that while Fisher probably was not certain that Trotta had gone hunting on October 27 until Trotta later admitted it, Fisher certainly had good reason to believe he had gone hunting that day in view of his absence for hunting the previous week. This belief was confirmed later by Trotta’s admission.
The evidence which Fisher could rely upon when it discharged Trotta is the following: Trotta was absent on Monday and Tuesday, October 19 and 20, following the opening of deer season. He did not call in either day. His wife called in on Tuesday, but did not give any reason for his absence. Jack Gardner swore under oath that he went hunting with Trotta on Tuesday. Gardner informed Fisher of that fact on that same day. When Trotta returned to work on Wednesday he told his foreman that he had been ill. Now just one week later, apparently while deer hunting season was still on, he was again off work on Tuesday and Wednesday, October 26 and 27. He did not call. His wife called in, but gave no reason for his absence. It would have been reasonable for Fisher to deduce that he had probably gone hunting again and would be justified in firing him. Fisher’s good reasoning was later confirmed. Certainly an employer need not wait until an employee makes an admission of an act before it can be considered grounds for dismissal.
With that observation, I concur in remanding this case to the Board, but I would have the Board also consider whether his absence on October 27 arose to the level of a “willful, deliberate or wanton” act required by § 35-4-5(b)(l) in light of the fact that Fisher had given no warning to Trotta concerning his absence of October 20 although Fisher knew he had gone hunting with Gardner. I would not confine the consideration of the Board to only the October 20 absence as does the majority opinion.
HALL, C.J., concurs in the concurring and dissenting opinion of HOWE, J.