Court Opinion

ID: 9676395
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 05:23:35.028607+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:47.861472
License: Public Domain

Karen R. Baker, Judge. Appellee University of Central Arkansas discharged appellant Mike P. Cusack from his position as a shuttle bus driver after it received notice that Mr. Cusack tested positive for marijuana on a drug screening test performed pursuant to the Department of Transportation’s regulation of individuals maintaining a commercial driver’s license. The Board of Review found that the employee’s failing the drug test for the Department of Transportation qualification demonstrated deliberate disregard of the employer’s interest. Whether Mr. Cusack’s actions constituted misconduct in connection with his work was a fact question for the Board to answer. Terravista Landscape v. Williams, 88 Ark. App. 57, 64, 194 S.W.3d 800, 804 (2004). The question for this court is whether substantial evidence supports the Board’s decision. Id. We affirm. Appellant was denied unemployment benefits upon the finding that he was discharged for misconduct. The dissent posits that although appellant had signed the University’s Drug Free Policy, UCA had no written policy separately addressing the drug testing and that off-duty drug use cannot be the basis for misconduct because it impermissibly extends an employer’s control of an employee’s actions outside the workplace. The misconduct in this case was not the off-duty use of marijuana. The misconduct was Mr. Cusack arriving at the workplace with marijuana in his system to drive the shuttle bus and transport the residents of the retirement center. Unemployment benefits are intended to benefit employees who lose their jobs through no fault or voluntary decision of their own. They are not intended to penalize employers or reward employees, but to promote the general welfare of the State. Wacaster v. Daniels, 270 Ark. 190, 194, 603 S.W.2d 907, 910 (Ark. App.1980). Mr. Cusack voluntarily arrived at the workplace with marijuana in his system to drive the bus and transport the residents. However, even applying the misconduct test purported to be applicable by the dissent in this case, we must affirm: [I]n Feagin v. Everett, 9 Ark. App. 59, 652 S.W.2d 839 (1983)... we recognized that misconduct in connection with the work can occur while an employee is off duty. There, a teacher was fired after criminal charges had been filed against her for the possession of a controlled substance, which had been found in her home. In affirming the Board’s finding of misconduct, we adopted a three-part test for determining whether an employee’s offiduty conduct will be considered misconduct in connection with the work. First, there must exist a nexus between the employee’s work and his or her off-duty activities. Second, it must be shown that the off-duty activities resulted in harm to the employer’s interests. And third, the off-duty conduct must be violative of some code of behavior contracted between the employer and employee, and the employee’s conduct must be done with the intent or knowledge that the employer’s interests would suffer. Rucker v. Price, 52 Ark. App. 126, 130, 915 S.W.2d 315, 317 (1996).  The discussions by the majority and dissent in the Rucker case provide a general policy summary behind the prohibition of off-duty drug use and the relationship to our unemployment determinations. In the case before us, appellant was required by UCA to submit to a drug test prior to his employment and signed a Drug Free Policy for the workplace. In addition, a specific contractual requirement for him to maintain his job as a shuttle bus driver was that he continue to be licensed as a commercial driver. A driver with a commercial driver’s license is subject to the Department of Transportation’s rules and regulations that specifically require that he be subject to random drug testing with the results being reported directly to his employer. See generally 49 C.F.R. pts. 350-399 (2008). Appellant knew that his employer’s interests would suffer from his reporting to work with marijuana in his system when his job was to transport residents of the retirement center by driving a bus. We hold on these facts that substantial evidence supports the Board’s decision. Affirmed. Pittman, C.J., Bird, and Vaught, JJ., agree. Hart and Robbins, JJ., dissent.