Court Opinion

ID: 9794547
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 03:07:49.063301+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:17:49.531410
License: Public Domain

HUNTLEY, Justice,
specially concurring.
I concur in the majority decision, both as to the result and as to the strict procedural reasons for that result. However, from the standpoint of judicial economy, I would have preferred that we fully determine the appealable issues on the merits in favor of Comegys at this time. To send the case back to the Industrial Commission so it can enter findings supposedly supporting its conclusions, which findings must be made upon the record already before us, will likely result in another appeal to this court in which we will be called upon to determine whether the new findings are supported by this same record.
A review of the hearing record in the instant case indicates that although there were undoubtedly grounds for discharge of Comegys as an employee, there are no grounds for denying his unemployment compensation benefits.
A rule laid down by an employer governing off duty conduct of its employees must have a reasonable relationship to the employer’s interests in order for a violation thereof to constitute misconduct as defined by I.C. § 72-1366(e). Oliver v. Creamer Heating & Appliance, 91 Idaho 312, 420 P.2d 795 (1966); O’Neal v. Employment Sec. Ag., 89 Idaho 313, 404 P.2d 600 (1965).
*769Violation of an employer’s rule is not, per se, misconduct; there must be a deliberate and intentional violation of the spirit of the rule. Wroble v. Bonner’s Ferry Ranger Station, 97 Idaho 900, 556 P.2d 859 (1976); Simmons v. Dep’t of Employment, 99 Idaho 290, 581 P.2d 336 (1978).
An employee’s indebtedness and harassment by his creditors in matters unrelated to his employment are not sufficient for a finding of misconduct barring eligibility for unemployment compensation. Jackson v. Administrator of Div. of Employment Security, 128 So.2d 915 (La.App.1961); Neely v. Brown, 161 So.2d 414 (La.App.1964).
An essential element of misconduct is breach of a duty owed to an employer. Violation of a company rule does not constitute misconduct unless the rule embodies a material duty owed to the employer in connection with the job, and the violation of the rule is intentional, deliberate, or with conscious indifference to the consequences. Kempfer, Disqualifications for Voluntary Leaving and Misconduct, 55 Yale Law Journal 147 (1945); Packard, Unemployment Without Fault: Disqualification for Unemployment Benefits, 17 Villanova L.R. 635 (1972).
In the instant case there is no testimony whatsoever establishing any detriment to the Air National Guard caused by the issuance of the checks by Comegys. With the exception of one creditor, the record actually establishes that the bulk of the creditors had no notice of the fact that Comegys was employed by the Air National Guard until the Guard officers contacted those creditors.
Since the Air Guard officers took action to help the merchants collect the monies due, one might conclude from the record that the image of the Guard as an organization was actually enhanced by the events involved. While Comegys’ financial difficulties give him no credit in the eyes of the merchants, the Guard’s reputation, wholly apart from Comegys’, was likely enhanced.
Since each party has had full opportunity to present its evidence, it would be improper for the Commission to reopen this case for further presentation of evidence. The evidence presented by the Guard does not meet the standards required by the authorities cited above for denial of unemployment compensation benefits. This appeal should result in a reversal with instructions to award Mr. Comegys his unemployment compensation benefits.