Court Opinion

ID: 9705703
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 01:17:13.949737+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:13.965300
License: Public Domain

PHILLIP R. GARRISON, Presiding Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. I believe that the opinion of the appeals tribunal, adopted by the Commission, indicates that it held as it did because of the failure of Appellant to first warn Claimant that his behavior was unacceptable, and not because his conduct failed to qualify as misconduct connected with work. Its conclusions of law include the following: “[Claimant] had never received any warnings about his behavior”; “[i]f [Claimant’s] on-going behavior was so inappropriate or offensive, the employer could have warned him about his behavior thereby affording [Claimant] an opportunity to correct the problem”; and it recited that Claimant had engaged in similar behavior for several months before being discharged, noting that “while this does not excuse his behavior, he had not been warned that his behavior was unacceptable.”
An employee may be disqualified from receiving unemployment benefits if that employee was discharged for “misconduct connected with the claimant’s work.” Section 288.050.2. The statute does not define “misconduct connected with work,” but, as acknowledged by the Commission, the courts have defined it as:
an act of wanton or willful disregard of the employer’s interest, a deliberate violation of the employer’s rules, a disregard of standards of behavior which the employer has the right to expect of his employee, or negligence in such degree or recurrence as to manifest culpability, wrongful intent, or evil design, or show an intentional and substantial disregard of the employer’s interest or of the employee’s duties and obligations to the employer.
Ritch v. Industrial Comm’n, 271 S.W.2d 791, 793 (Mo.App.1954); see also City of Branson v. Santo, 111 S.W.3d 910, 913 (Mo.App. S.D.2003).
Under that definition, this court has held that misconduct is established when action or inaction by the claimant amounts to a conscious disregard of the interests of the employer or constitutes behavior contrary to that which an employer has a right to expect from an employee. Hurlhut v. Labor & Indus. Rel. Comm’n., 761 S.W.2d 282, 285 (Mo.App. S.D.1988). In Hurlbut, the claimant failed to follow the employer’s communicated policy regarding accounting procedures of cash receipts. *725Id. at 284-85. In affirming claimant’s five-week disqualification from receiving unemployment benefits, we held that a violation of a reasonable work rule can constitute misconduct. Id. at 285.
In the instant case, Claimant admitted violating the known policy regarding absences from work without calling in. In fact, he admitted that to do so was wrong and that he could be discharged for misconduct.1 He also admitted to “reluctantly” cleaning his work area when told to do so by the owner of the company, although he acknowledged that it was an important part of his job. These incidents, together with the other testimony about his defiant attitude would not only qualify as violations of reasonable work rules, but also as a conscious disregard of the interests of the employer as well as behavior contrary to that which the employer has a right to expect from an employee.
I believe that it is significant that the accepted definition of misconduct connected with work does not condition application of the disqualification under Section 288.050.2 on the existence of a prior warning. I have not been directed to, nor have I found, authority in Missouri holding that a prior warning is necessary before an employee discharged for what would otherwise be misconduct connected with work is disqualified from unemployment benefits. At least one other state expressly recognizes that a prior warning is not necessary. See Peluso v. Commonwealth of Pa.,—Unemployment Comp. Bd. of Review, 12 Pa.Cmwlth. 250, 315 A.2d 340, 342 (1974).
Appellant cites a line of cases from Michigan describing a “last straw” doctrine, which hold, basically, that an employee can be discharged for misconduct on the basis of a series of events, which when considered together, “evince a wilful disregard of the employer’s interests.” Christophersen v. City of Menominee, 137 Mich.App. 776, 359 N.W.2d 563, 566 (1984); see also Giddens v. Employment Sec. Comm’n, 4 Mich.App. 526, 145 N.W.2d 294, 298 (1966). Neither case has been cited in Missouri, nor are we able to find that the Missouri courts have expressly adopted a similar doctrine.2 However, it seems reasonable to me, given the accepted definition of misconduct under Section 288.050.2, that prior conduct by an employee could be considered in determining whether his discharge was for misconduct connected with work.
I would conclude in this case that Claimant’s prior behavior constituted misconduct connected with his work under Section 288.050.2. As indicated, however, it appears to me that the Commission held as it did because of the failure to warn him that his conduct could result in a discharge. As such, I believe that was a misstatement *726and misapplication of the law requiring a reversal and remand for further proceedings.

. This testimony actually could be considered as acknowledging a warning concerning the failure to comply with attendance rules.

. Section 288.050.3 RSMo (Cum.Supp.2004), states,
Absenteeism or tardiness may constitute misconduct regardless of whether the last incident alone constitutes misconduct. In determining whether the degree of absenteeism or tardiness constitutes a pattern for which misconduct may be found, the division shall consider whether the discharge was the result of a violation of the employer’s attendance policy, provided the employee had received knowledge of such policy prior to the occurrence of any absence or tardy upon which the discharge is based.
This subsection appears to allow for consideration of a pattern of conduct in the determination of whether misconduct occurred, at least as regards absenteeism. Furthermore, this court appears to have considered multiple acts over a period of time in finding that an employee engaged in misconduct. See Koret of California, Inc. v. Zimmerman, 941 S.W.2d 886, 889 (Mo.App. S.D.1997).