Court Opinion

ID: 9545574
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 17:15:47.223589+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:15:08.214931
License: Public Domain

Durham, J.
(dissenting)—There is no evidence in the record connecting appellant Thomas Henson's refusal to attend a particular follow-up alcohol treatment program with his ability to perform his duties as a shipping clerk. Thus, there is no legal basis for the determination, made in the first instance by the Employment Security Department and affirmed by a majority of this court, that Henson was discharged for work-related misconduct. For this reason, I would hold that Henson is not disqualified from receiving unemployment compensation under the terms of RCW 50.20.060.
*382I
Henson was discharged from his job as a shipping clerk with Tam Engineering Corporation (Tam) on December 4, 1984. Following his discharge, he applied to the Employment Security Department (ESD) for unemployment compensation. ESD denied Henson's application, holding that he was disqualified for benefits pursuant to RCW 50.20.060 because his discharge was for "misconduct connected with his . . . work". The case is before us on Henson's appeal from ESD's ruling.
The unchallenged finding of the agency below was that Henson's discharge occurred because of his "fail[ure] to follow through on a program of alcoholism treatment." More particularly, Henson was discharged because he refused to attend Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings after he had successfully completed a residential program for alcohol abuse. The single issue presented to us, therefore, is whether Henson's refusal to attend AA meetings constitutes "misconduct connected with his . . . work" within the meaning of RCW 50.20.060.
II
Washington's state-organized system of unemployment insurance operates according to what we have described as a "fault principle". Ancheta v. Daly, 77 Wn.2d 255, 261, 461 P.2d 531 (1969). This principle finds expression both in the statutory scheme's preambulatory provision, RCW 50.01.010; see Macey v. Department of Empl. Sec., 110 Wn.2d 308, 752 P.2d 372 (1988), as well as in several of its disqualifying clauses. See Ancheta, at 261. Among the latter is RCW 50.20.060, which temporarily disqualifies an unemployed individual from receiving benefits when "he or she has been discharged or suspended for misconduct connected with his or her work".
Our courts have had some difficulty articulating useful guidelines for applying the work-related misconduct rule of *383RCW 50.20.060. Macey attempted a clarification, summarizing "the general criteria establishing disqualifying misconduct" as follows:
(1) The rule must be reasonable under the circumstances of the employment; (2) the conduct of the employee must be connected with the work as described above; and (3) the conduct of the employee must in fact violate the rule.
Macey, at 319. Even still, problems remain. It is difficult, for example, to distinguish the determination that a rule of conduct is "reasonable under the' circumstances of the employment" from the separately articulated work-nexus inquiry. Indeed, their indistinctiveness is illustrated by the majority's analysis of this case; the majority has fairly well decided the case before it even reaches the second Macey criterion.
I will not here attempt yet another restatement of the factors underlying the concept of work-related misconduct. Rather, in approaching the particular question of whether such misconduct occurred in this case, I will apply a more evaluative approach. This analysis will draw primarily on the holdings of previous cases. See Kempfer, Disqualifications for Voluntary Leaving and Misconduct, 55 Yale L.J. 147, 166 (1945) ("The concept of connection with the work is one which can best be delimited by the gradual process of inclusion or exclusion as the cases arise, rather than by an attempt to frame a precise definition.").
Ill
Absent in this case, but an essential component of findings of work-related misconduct in previous decisions, is a showing that Henson's refusal to attend AA meetings had a significant adverse effect on his employer. As discussed above, the disqualification for work-related misconduct effectuates the legislative policy of restricting unemployment compensation to cases where a worker becomes unemployed through no fault of his own. That is, the cause of discharge must have been conduct the employee himself *384can be said to be responsible for, rather than innocent conduct that results in discharge merely because it violates a rule or policy of the employer. See Safeco Ins. Cos. v. Meyering, 102 Wn.2d 385, 392, 687 P.2d 195 (1984).
Washington case law consistently demonstrates the importance of such adverse effect. For example, in Macey we upheld the ESD's decision denying unemployment benefits, pursuant to RCW 50.20.060, to an employee who had been discharged for making a false statement concerning his criminal history on his employment application. The false answer, we noted, "was harmful to the employer who hired the claimant in reliance on the specific information given in the application form." Macey, at 321; see also Nelson v. Department of Empl. Sec., 98 Wn.2d 370, 375, 655 P.2d 242 (1982) (identifying "harm to the employer's interest" as an element of work-related misconduct).1
Adverse effect is similarly present in cases in which the Court of Appeals has found work-related misconduct. In Peterson v. Department of Empl. Sec., 42 Wn. App. 364, 711 P.2d 1071 (1985), review denied, 105 Wn.2d 1011 (1986), the employee's disregard of his supervisor's direct instructions had an obvious adverse effect on his employer's ability to manage its enterprise. The same is true of the refusal by the employee in Levold v. Department of Empl. Sec., 24 Wn. App. 472, 604 P.2d 175 (1979) to work on weekends and the refusals by the employees in Willard v. Employment Sec. Dep't, 10 Wn. App. 437, 517 P.2d 973 (1974) to undertake the tasks assigned them. Falsification of company records, as occurred in Pacquing v. Department of Empl. Sec., 41 Wn. App. 866, 707 P.2d 150 (1985), was expressly determined to have had at least a potential adverse effect on substantial interests of the employer, and so similarly were the refusals to work overtime of the *385claimants in Durham v. Department of Empl. Sec., 31 Wn. App. 675, 644 P.2d 154 (1982).2
That adverse effect is an essential element of work-related misconduct is clear as well from the reported decisions of the ESD Commissioner. In In re Purcell, Empl. Sec. Comm'r Dec. 540 (1979), for example, a condition of the claimant's employment with an alcoholism treatment center was that he abstain from all alcohol, both on and off the job. For violating this rule by drinking off the job, the claimant was discharged. The Commissioner allowed benefits, holding that claimant's conduct, though in violation of his employer's rule, had no demonstrated "direct adverse reflection on the employer".
More to the point on the issue before us is the Commissioner's decision in In re Garcia, Empl. Sec. Comm'r Dec. 422 (1978). Garcia was discharged in part for failing "to attend a treatment program which was a condition imposed on her continued employment by the employer." Upholding a denial of benefits, the Commissioner noted that "requiring treatment was reasonable in view of the circumstances", which included alcohol-related work absences. The Commissioner expressly rejected the claimant's contention that treatment would have been ineffective in preventing further adverse effects on her work performance.
No similar findings were made in this case, and thus I do not believe the element of adverse effect here has been satisfied. ESD found that Henson is an alcoholic, and that his alcoholism adversely affected his job performance insofar as *386it caused him to "come to work smelling of liquor", thus impairing his ability to deal effectively with customers. In these circumstances, I agree that Henson would have committed work-related misconduct within the meaning of RCW 50.20.060 if he had violated an agreement or rule requiring him to seek necessary and effective treatment for his alcoholism. See In re Garcia, supra; see also Cherry v. Suburban Mfg. Co., 745 S.W.2d 273 (Tenn. 1988).
Henson did not refuse all treatment, however. He completed a 21-day inpatient treatment program and agreed to attend 12 weekly group meetings as part of the treatment center's "aftercare" program. He balked only at the center's additional recommendation of "at least 3 AA meetings per week and getting a sponsor."
Would Henson's failure to attend AA meetings prevent his recovery from alcoholism? Maybe. An appreciative AA member, in a recent book on the organization, quotes the program director of the Betty Ford Center as telling center patients: "When you leave here, if you don't go to A.A., you won't make it." N. Robertson, Getting Better, Inside Alcoholics Anonymous 210 (1988). Ms. Robertson acknowledges, however, that AA "does not work for everyone", N. Robertson, at 112, and describes the strong religious and spiritual elements of the AA program that many alcoholics have difficulty embracing. Another study observes that AA is best suited to individuals who are "open to spiritual values", and notes that the program is ineffective when it conflicts with an individual's culture or personality, or when alcohol abuse is merely a symptom of underlying psychological problems.3 Young & Lawson, A.A. Referrals for Alcohol Related Crimes: The Advantages and Limitations, 28 Int'l J. Offender Therapy & Comp. Criminology 131 (1984). A legitimate question can be raised as to the efficacy of any treatment program undertaken as a result of coercion rather than from commitment to its ideology.
*387There is no question that AA has been a highly successful program for many people. My point, however, is that we don't know if it is the necessary and correct treatment for Thomas Henson. The record is silent as to this critical determination. In these circumstances, therefore, I cannot subscribe to a finding that Henson was discharged for work-related misconduct. "Misconduct may not be presumed, but must be established by a preponderance of the evidence." In re Purcell, supra at 2; see also In re Jellison, Empl. Sec. Comm'r Dec. 163 (1976). Here, there is no finding and no evidence in the record establishing that Henson's refusal to attend AA meetings would adversely affect his employer. ESD has held only that Henson "violated a code of behavior expected of him by the employer." As explained above, this is not sufficient to sustain a finding of work-related misconduct. See Torgerson v. Goodwill Indus., Inc., 391 N.W.2d 35 (Minn. Ct. App. 1986) (claimant's attendance of AA meetings was expressly found to be necessary to control his alcoholism, thus justifying a denial of benefits when he failed to do so).
The denial of unemployment compensation to a longstanding employee such as Thomas Henson based on the record before us is unfair. I would reverse ESD's decision.
Callow, C.J., and Brachtenbach and Dore, JJ., concur with Durham, J.
Reconsideration denied January 9, 1990.

As Macey and Nelson demonstrate, adverse effect on employer interest is a necessary component of work-related misconduct whether the misconduct occurs on duty (Macey) or off duty (Nelson). For this reason, and because the absence of adverse effect is determinative in this case, it is unnecessary to determine whether Henson's asserted misconduct occurred on duty or off duty.

The only exception may be Franz v. Department of Empl. Sec., 43 Wn. App. 753, 719 P.2d 597, review denied, 106 Wn.2d 1013 (1986), where the court, incorrectly I believe, asserted that "[n]exus with the work and harm to employer's interest are not issues" in cases of on-duty misconduct. Franz, at 759. Even then, however, Franz may be consistent with an adverse effect requirement. Franz was discharged for rolling back the date on the postage meter she used in her job as a municipal utility's billing clerk. She did this in order to make it appear that she had sent the bills out on time; actually, they were 2 to 3 days late. This dishonest behavior well could have subjected Franz's employer to legal difficulties if a mandated late-payment penalty were assessed against a customer who had insufficient time to pay his bill.

This may well be the case with Henson, who was so resistant to AA that he sacrificed his job of 18 years rather than participate in the program.