Court Opinion

ID: 9883987
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-06 02:30:09.712069+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:48:34.105354
License: Public Domain

GILBERT, Justice
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent from the majority opinion. Minnesota Statutes § 268.095, subd. 6 (2000), unambiguously defines “employment misconduct” and the statutory definition no longer requires that the conduct willfully or wantonly disregard an employer’s interests or deliberately violate or disregard the employer’s standards of behavior. Rather, the statute clearly states that employment misconduct is any intentional conduct that disregards the standards of behavior that an employer has the right to expect of the employee. As the majority notes, “disregard” means “to pay no attention to; leave out of consideration; ignore[;] * * * to treat without due regard, respect, or attentiveness; slight.” Accordingly, an employee that intentionally fails to follow her employer’s known policies and procedures and, in doing so, either pays no attention to or neglects to observe the standards of behavior that an employer has the right to expect of the employee, commits “employment misconduct” under Minn.Stat. § 268.095, subd. 6. Contrary to the majority’s holding, there simply is no requirement in the statute that the employee must intend to violate or disregard the employer’s standards of behavior.
*151When interpreting a statute, we first look at whether the statute’s language, on its face, is clear and unambiguous. Am. Family Ins. Group v. Schroedl, 616 N.W.2d 273, 277 (Minn.2000). Words and phrases in the statute are to be construed according to their plain and ordinary meaning. Id. The unambiguous language used in Minn.Stat. § 268.095, subd. 6, defines “employment misconduct.” This definition does not include the specific intent element of “ ‘wilful or wanton disregard of an employer’s interests as is found in deliberate violations or disregard of standards of behavior which the employer has the right to expect of his employee.’ ” Tilseth v. Midwest Lumber Co., 295 Minn. 372, 374-75, 204 N.W.2d 644, 646 (1973) (quoting Boynton Cab Co. v. Neubeck, 237 Wis. 249, 296 N.W. 636, 640 (1941)).
The majority fails to construe Minn.Stat. § 268.095, subd. 6, according to its plain and ordinary meaning. Rather, the majority interprets the statute to say something that its does not — that the employee must intend to ignore or pay no attention to the standards of behavior the employer has a right to expect. While the majority concedes that Houston’s conduct was deliberate in the incident at issue, it adds another requirement not contained in the statute by drawing a distinction between an intent to commit the conduct and an intent to commit the conduct that disregards the standards of behavior that an employer has the right to expect of an employee. In this case, Houston was aware of the zero-tolerance policy and, in the heat of the moment, intentionally committed an act that ignored the policy. Although a holding that Houston committed employment misconduct under Minn.Stat. § 268.095, subd. 6, may lead to an unfortunate result for Houston, her employer has rights too, especially in a business that depends on accurate, clear, unemotional communication when alarm calls are received. Houston’s employer has a right to enforce its policies and establish standards of behavior that it has decided are in the best interests of its business. Because Houston’s intentional conduct disregarded these standards, she committed employment misconduct and should be disqualified from receiving unemployment compensation benefits.
I would affirm the court of appeals.