Court Opinion

ID: 9677439
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 05:52:22.110546+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:55.978432
License: Public Domain

John Mauzy Pittman, Judge. Appellant, George’s Inc., appeals from an Arkansas Board of Review decision awarding unemployment benefits to appellee Jimmy Don Wilson. The Board found that appellee was discharged from his last work for reasons other than misconduct in connection with the work. Appellant argues that the Board’s findings that appellant’s drug and alcohol abuse policy was unreasonable and that appellee’s discharge was for reasons other than misconduct are not supported by substantial evidence. We agree with appellant’s first point, and reverse and remand.  On appeal, the findings of fact of the Board of Review are conclusive if they are supported by substantial evidence. Ark. Code Ann. § ll-10-529(c)(l) (1987); Perdrix-Wang v. Director, 42 Ark. App. 218. 856 S.W.2d 636 (1993). Substantial evidence is such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion. Id. We review the evidence and all reasonable inferences deducible therefrom in the light most favorable to the Board’s findings. Id. Our review is limited to a determination of whether the Board could reasonably reach its decision upon the evidence before it. Id. Appellee was injured while working on appellant’s sanitation crew. Appellant’s policy required drug testing after a work-related accident that necessitated medical treatment. Appellant’s drug test revealed a positive reading for propoxyhene, phenobarbital and butalbital. The policy states that any injured employee testing positive for “any detectable amounts of illegal drugs” or any employee who reports to work or works under the influence of any controlled or illegal substance, except a drug prescribed by a physician to the employee, will be discharged. Appellee signed a consent agreement at the time of his employment to comply with this policy as a condition of employment. Appellant’s personnel manager testified that appellee had not shown any impairment on the job and that appellee’s previous drug tests were negative. Appellee was unable to produce a prescription to account for butalbital, and he was discharged solely for testing positive for a controlled substance not prescribed to him. Appellee stated that about five days before the drug test he was in pain and having taken all of his prescription for Darvocet, a friend had given him a sleeping or pain pill. Appellee said that he did not know what he took, although he believed it was “just like” Darvocet. He did not ask what it was and his friend said it was a painkiller. He was also taking Motrin. A nurse employed by appellant said that Darvocet accounted for the showing of propoxyhene. An employee of the drug testing laboratory testified that over-the-counter medications may result in a positive showing of phenobarbital. The laboratory employee said that the lab toxicologist had not told her that butalbital was contained in over-the-counter medications and so she assumed butalbital, a pain killer, was contained in a prescription drug. The lab employee testified that a pain killer could remain in a person’s system up to two weeks. The lab employee stated that none of the positive readings could be attributed to Motrin.  Arkansas Code Annotated § 11-10-514(a)(1) (1987) provides that an individual shall be disqualified from benefits if he is discharged from his last work for misconduct in connection with the work. “Misconduct,” for purposes of unemployment compensation, involves: (1) disregard of the employer’s interest, (2) violation of the employer’s rules, (3) disregard of the standards of behavior which the employer has a right to expect of his employees, and (4) disregard of the employee’s duties and obligations to his employer. A. Tenenbaum Co. v. Director of Labor, 32 Ark. App. 43, 796 S.W.2d 348 (1990); Grace Drilling Co. v. Director, 31 Ark. App. 81, 790 S.W.2d 907 (1990). There is an element of intent associated with a determination of misconduct. Mere good faith errors in judgment or discretion and unsatisfactory conduct are not considered misconduct unless they are of such a degree of recurrence as to manifest culpability, wrongful intent, evil design, or intentional disregard of an employer’s interest. Grace Drilling Co. v. Director, supra, Sadler v. Stiles, 22 Ark. App. 117, 735 S.W.2d 708 (1987); Shipley Baking Co. v. Stiles, 17 Ark. App. 72, 703 S.W.2d 465 (1986). Whether the employee’s acts are willful or merely the result of unsatisfactory conduct or unintentional failure of performance is a fact question for the Board to decide. Arlington Hotel v. Employment Security Division, 3 Ark. App. 281, 625 S.W.2d 551 (1981).  The Board found that the evidence did not establish that appellee intentionally disregarded a “standard of behavior the employer had a right to expect.” Appellee stated that he took the sleeping/pain pill over the weekend while off work. As the Board stated, “misconduct” connected with the work, i.e., whether appellee’s off-duty drug use was a disregard of a standard of behavior his employer had a right to expect, must be determined by applying the principles of Feagin v. Everett, 9 Ark. App. 59, 652 S.W.2d 839 (1983). In Feagin, the court affirmed the Board’s finding that a school teacher’s off-duty involvement with illegal drugs was violative of a standard of behavior her employer had a right to expect. The court stated that the teaching profession requires a higher standard of its practitioners because school teachers serve as role models for their students. In applying the precepts of Feagin to the facts of our case, the Board found that appellant was not entitled to relief, since it had not met her burden of establishing misconduct. The Board also said that appellee took what he thought, albeit incorrectly, was similar to Darvocet (which had been prescribed to him), and that this sleeping/pain pill, received from a friend for which appellee did not have a prescription, was apparently responsible for the butalbital reading. We cannot conclude that the Board’s finding that appellee did not violate a standard of behavior is not supported by substantial evidence. Although appellee did not intentionally disregard a standard of behavior, misconduct may also be found for an intentional violation of the employer’s rules. Appellee was not discharged for off-duty conduct, but pursuant to the policy requiring a discharge for any employee testing positive for a detectable amount of a controlled substance without a prescription. The Board did not decide whether appellee intentionally violated the appellant’s drug policy because it found that the evidence failed to show that appellant’s drug policy was reasonable as applied to the facts of this case. The Board gave the following reasons for this finding. First, the record is devoid of a description of appellee’s job duties, thus preventing an analysis like that of Grace Drilling Company v. Director of Labor, supra, where we held that an employer’s drug-free policy was reasonable in light of the dangerous nature of the drilling industry. Second, appellant’s stated purpose for its policy, to promote safety and production, is not met by discharging an employee having trace amounts of an illegal drug regardless of “whether the employee is in fact impaired” and by not discharging an employee who is impaired by a prescription drug. Third, there was no showing that the particular drugs being tested for were drugs that would be detrimental to production or safety. Fourth, that appellant could discharge an employee upon finding any detectable amount of illegal drugs but would only discharge for findings of alcohol greater than a .05 level indicating that the employer recognized that a “trace level of any type of foreign substance in the body does not necessarily establish an impaired condition.” Fifth, the Board found it unreasonable that appellant’s policy required a drug test following an on-the-job injury because not all injuries are caused by negligence, such as ones caused by the nature of the work. We cannot conclude that the Board’s finding that the drug policy was not reasonable is supported by substantial evidence.  We address the reasonableness of appellant’s drug policy because a prerequisite to finding misconduct for violation of an employer’s rule is that the rule be reasonable. 81 C.J.S. Social Security and Public Welfare §224 (1977); Pesce v. Board of Review Dep’t of Employment Security, 515 N.E.2d 849 (Ill. App. 1987). The dangerous nature of the employer’s industry or an employee’s job duties, as well as the existence of risk factors, may justify a drug-free policy as reasonable when the policy is implemented to promote safety. Grace Drilling Company v. Director of Labor, supra. Appellee stated that he worked on appellant’s clean-up sanitation crew and his job duties included cleaning machinery. The stated purpose of appellant’s policy is to “provide a safe and productive work environment for all its employees.” Furthermore, an employer is not required to show that the employee is actually impaired in his job performance before he may discharge an employee after a drug test indicates trace amounts of illegal drugs. Id. We find it persuasive that such policies have been upheld in other jurisdictions as reasonable. See Robinson v. Dep’t of Employment Security, 637 N.E.2d 631 (Ill. App. 1994); Singleton v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 558 A.2d 574 (Pa. 1989). In our case, the Board was incorrect to imply that in addition to finding a positive drug test, appellant must also demonstrate that appellee was impaired before appellant’s drug-free policy would be reasonable.  The Board also stated that the purpose of appellant’s drug policy, to provide safety and production, was not promoted by discharging an employee for a trace amount of illegal drugs without any showing of an impaired job performance when under the same policy, a person impaired by prescription drugs would not be discharged. To avoid discharge, appellant’s policy required a person impaired by prescription drugs to report his condition to appellant who then prevented him from working. A person who worked without reporting an impairment by prescription drugs could be discharged. This prevention of impaired employees from working is consistent with promoting safety. However, it was unnecessary for appellant to determine that appellee was impaired in his job performance before discharging appellee because appellee’s test revealed a detectable amount of illegal drugs; i.e., a controlled substance without a prescription. Grace Drilling Company, supra. Illegal drug use brings potential harm to the employer, regardless of the worker’s demonstrated impairment, especially when a worker’s duties involve exposure to machinery.  Moreover, we find persuasive cases from other jurisdictions which have upheld as reasonable drug policies that provide for drug testing following a work-related accident. McAllister v. Board of Review, 635 N.E.2d 596 (Ill. App. 1994); Singleton v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, supra.  For the reasons stated herein, we cannot conclude that the Board’s finding that appellant’s drug policy was unreasonable is supported by substantial evidence. We note that negative drug test results were a condition of appellee’s employment to which appellee agreed. See Szostek v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 541 A.2d 48 (Pa. 1988). We hold that appellant’s drug policy is reasonable and remand for the Board to decide whether appellee intentionally or deliberately violated appellant’s drug policy, as that finding must be made by the Board. W.C. Lee Construction v. Stiles, 13 Ark. App. 303, 683 S.W.2d 616 (1985). Reversed and remanded. Jennings, C.J., and Mayfield, J., dissent.