Court Opinion

ID: 9626759
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 08:23:27.359999+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:06:33.220207
License: Public Domain

HOWE, Justice:
(dissenting).
I dissent. I do not believe that the evidence can be viewed in any way other than that the claimant was discharged for “just cause.”
At the time of her termination, claimant managed a fast-food restaurant. On February 20, 1985, her employer met with her to discuss the following complaints concerning her behavior: (1) throwing register tape at an employee who was having difficulty with the cash register, (2) throwing ice, (3) using profane language at employees and in the presence of customers, (4) throwing food at a new employee because he had not wrapped it properly, (5) temper tantrums in the presence of customers, and (6) a drop in the gross receipts of the restaurant. The employer had concluded, based on a customer survey he had made, that claimant’s behavior and bad language were keeping customers away. Although the claimant did not agree with all of these allegations, she did acknowledge that she had engaged in these kinds of behavior on certain occasions. She also acknowledged the use of profane language, loss of temper, and her difficulty dealing with employees during business hours in the presence of customers. She also was insubordinate. Her employer testified that he had experienced his most distasteful phone call during his twenty-three years in the restaurant business when he called the claimant to reprimand her for being abusive with his supervisor and staff. She had been coun-selled several times about her problems. She was aware of her employer’s concern. Finally, her employer placed her on vacation so that he could evaluate whether to continue her in his employment, as well as to give her an opportunity to reflect on her behavior. He directed her to stay away from the restaurant during this period. She violated his order and entered the restaurant, prompting her immediate termination.
The administrative law judge and the Board of Review concluded that claimant’s poor conduct was not within her power and capacity to control or prevent. Consequently, it was determined that her discharge was not for “just cause” and that she was entitled to receive unemployment compensation.
I must dissent from those conclusions. I think it is nothing short of gross rationalization to excuse persons in management from using profane language, losing their tempers, and being abusive towards employees on the spurious ground that they have no control over their conduct. No contention is made that the claimant was not of average intelligence or that she lacked mental capacity. Indeed, the fact that she had been a manager for her employer for years and understood well the technical details of her work would argue otherwise. To excuse her from her conduct and language which stem from her lack of self-discipline and control is to allow her to escape the responsibilities which all adults in the work force must bear, particularly an adult who wishes to act in a management or supervisory capacity. Her abusive conduct was more than merely inefficiency or failure of performance as a result of lack of ability, inadvertence, ordinary negligence, or good faith error, all of which we held to be non-disqualifying misconduct in both Continental Oil Co. v. Board of Review, 568 P.2d 727 (Utah 1977) *475and Martin v. Department of Employment Security, 682 P.2d 304 (Utah 1984).
The Board of Review found support for its excuse of the claimant’s lack of self-control in the statement made by her employer which is quoted in the majority opinion. That reliance was misplaced. His statement was only that he did not think the claimant was “malicious” or that her actions were “willful.” Those comments, coming from a relieved employer, were charitable but in no way form a basis for the Board’s conclusion that claimant was unable to conform her speech and conduct to a standard of acceptable behavior. Even the claimant did not testify that she was unable to control herself. Moreover, to constitute “just cause” for discharge, the employee’s conduct need not rise to the level of “malicious” or “willful.”
I find that the culpability, knowledge, and control factors outlined in Kehl v. Board of Review, 700 P.2d 1129, 1133-34 (Utah 1985), were met and satisfied here, and that therefore just cause existed for the claimant’s discharge. She had knowledge that her behavior was unacceptable. She had been counselled on previous occasions. Her outbursts of temper and ill-mannered remarks to customers and employees were clearly within her power to control, if she wanted to do so. Her failure to conform after repeated warnings constituted culpable behavior that was clearly adverse to the employer’s interests. In a competitive marketplace, customer goodwill and employee loyalty and morale are valuable assets. An employer cannot allow those assets to be put in jeopardy because a manager refuses to act civilly toward others. The majority argues that because her ill behavior did not reduce gross receipts in 1984, there is no reason to think that her behavior was responsible for the drop in receipts in early 1985. That does not follow. The seeds of misconduct sown in 1984 produced their harvest in 1985. Even at the time of the hearing on claimant’s application for benefits, which was held two months after her discharge, the receipts had not rebounded although other restaurants owned by the employer had recovered from a seasonal slump. The employer had an independent firm make a market-track study of the restaurant and found considerable negative customer reaction. The claimant was at the core of the problem and the employer had every “just cause” to remove her.