Court Opinion

ID: 9707051
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 01:59:52.120258+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:27.403716
License: Public Domain

DISSENTING OPINION BY
Senior Judge McCLOSKEY.
I respectfully dissent as I disagree with the majority’s conclusion that Sherril New-mark (Claimant) failed to establish a necessitous and compelling reason for leaving her employment.
Claimant testified the behavior coordinator position had been created due to many incidents at the school involving behaviorally disturbed children. She stated that it was an ongoing struggle to deal with the behavioral problems of the students at the school. In an e-mail to Dr. Herman Axel-rod, she explained that “trying to keep this program safe WITH the current staff has been challenging, exhausting, and much of the time tenuous.” (A.R.R.R. at 67a) (emphasis in original). In a letter to the Green Tree School Board of Director’s (School Board), she listed numerous reasons as to why the elimination of the behavioral coordinator would endanger the physical and emotional safety of the students at the school. Claimant also requested to meet with the School Board to discuss the matter, but the School Board never contacted her.
A claimant is obligated to notify an employer of a problem prior to quitting, so that the employer is given an opportunity to resolve the problem. Unclaimed Freight Company v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 677 A.2d 377 (Pa.Cmwlth.1996). Here, Claimant notified Dr. Axelrod and the School Board of the problem. Not only did they fail to address her concerns, Dr. Axelrod actually misled Claimant. He informed her that the behavior coordinator position was being eliminated and replaced with either a computer teacher or a music teacher. However, he was aware that money in the school budget was going to be used to create a new behavior position. He neglected to inform Claimant that not only had a new position been created, but that the new position encompassed the prior duties of the behavior coordinator.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has explained that “[w]hen ... the pressure of real not imaginary, substantial not trifling, reasonable not whimsical, circumstances compel the decision to leave employment, the decision is voluntary in the sense that the worker has willed it but involuntary because outward pressures have compelled it.” Monaco v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 523 Pa. 41, 48, 565 A.2d 127, 131 (1989).
Claimant presented testimony as to the dangers of eliminating the behavior coordinator position. She explained that the position was created due to several behavioral incidents involving the students that had *580occurred at the school and that even with the current staff of six, it was difficult keeping the children safe. While the majority deems Claimant’s testimony to be “self-serving,” her testimony was accepted by the Board and the Board’s findings of fact are conclusive on appeal. Craighead-Jenkins v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 796 A.2d 1031, 1033 (Pa.Cmwlth.2002). Therefore, I would have concluded that Claimant had established cause of a necessitous and compelling nature for voluntarily resigning her employment. And hence, I would have affirmed the decision of the Board.