A. Fletcher v. UCBR

CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 4, 2022
Docket533 C.D. 2021
StatusUnpublished

This text of A. Fletcher v. UCBR (A. Fletcher v. UCBR) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
A. Fletcher v. UCBR, (Pa. Ct. App. 2022).

Opinion

IN THE COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA

Andre Fletcher, : Petitioner : : v. : No. 533 C.D. 2021 : Submitted: April 14, 2022 Unemployment Compensation : Board of Review, : Respondent :

BEFORE: HONORABLE RENÉE COHN JUBELIRER, President Judge HONORABLE CHRISTINE FIZZANO CANNON, Judge HONORABLE BONNIE BRIGANCE LEADBETTER, Senior Judge

OPINION NOT REPORTED

MEMORANDUM OPINION BY PRESIDENT JUDGE COHN JUBELIRER FILED: October 4, 2022

Andre Fletcher (Claimant) petitions for review of a March 11, 2021 Order of the Unemployment Compensation (UC) Board of Review (Board), affirming the decision of a Referee that found Claimant ineligible for UC benefits pursuant to Section 402(e) of the Unemployment Compensation Law (Law)1 because Claimant was discharged for willful misconduct. Having reviewed the record and the law, we conclude substantial evidence exists to support the Board’s findings and discern no error of law in its conclusions. Therefore, we affirm.

1 Act of December 5, 1936, Second Ex. Sess., P.L. (1937) 2897, as amended, 43 P.S. § 802(e). After being discharged from his employment with Inframark, LLC (Employer), Claimant filed an application for benefits on July 17, 2020, citing unsatisfactory work performance as the reason for his discharge. (Certified Record (C.R.) at 007-08.) On Claimant’s application, he answered “no” in response to the question: “[w]ere you discharged or suspended as a result of a rule violation[.]” Claimant also answered “yes” to the questions: “[w]as your work performance below company standards,” and “[w]ere you warned about your work performance[.]” (Id. at 008-09.) A local UC Service Center found Claimant eligible for benefits because Employer failed to show that “[C]laimant was not working to the best of his ability.” (Notice of Determination, C.R. at 018.) Employer appealed on September 30, 2020, and a telephonic hearing was held before a Referee, at which Claimant testified on his own behalf, and Michael Wolgemuth (Regional Manager) testified on behalf of Employer. 2 Following the hearing, the Referee issued a decision that reversed the Service Center’s determination and made the following findings of fact:

1. The [C]laimant was last employed as a full-time Project Manager with [Employer] earning $40.78 per hour. The [C]laimant began employment June 12, 1995[,] and last worked on July 16, 2020.

2. For 21 years, the [C]laimant was employed as an operator at a wastewater plant for the [E]mployer.

2 Regional Manager held that position for the three years Claimant was Project Manager at Employer’s Downingtown facility. (C.R. at 058.) Also present at the hearing on behalf of Employer was Stephanie Taylor, Employer’s Senior Human Resources Business Partner. (Id. at 049.) However, all relevant questions were addressed to and answered by Regional Manager. (Id.) The Referee and Board did not consider any testimony of Ms. Taylor in reaching their findings.

2 3. The [C]laimant became the Project Manager of the Downingtown facility in the last four years of his employment.

4. As the Project Manager, the [C]laimant was responsible for overseeing the operations of the facility and in part managing staff to comply with the parameters of permits issued.

5. All wastewater plants that discharge into receiving water must receive an NPDES[3] permit from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

6. Pursuant to the NPDES permit, the maximum chlorine residual permitted was 1.6 mg/L.

7. As the Project Manager, the [C]laimant was responsible for training staff to handle or address a high flow event at the plant.

8. The [C]laimant was responsible for installing an alarm which was monitored online to alert the operators at the plant if the maximum chlorine residual limit was exceeded.

9. The alarm should have been set in accordance with the maximum chlorine residual permitted which was 1.6 mg/L.

10. The [C]laimant delegated the task of setting the alarm to the [a]ssistant [m]anager,[4] who set the alarm to 3.5 mg/L.

11. The [C]laimant inspected the alarm and was aware the alarm was set to 3.5 mg/L.

12. On April 13, 2020, a high flow [event] occurred at the facility wherein the operators opened a valve to diverge flow to a spare clarifier which caused an overdose of chlorine.

3 NPDES stands for National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, and an NPDES permit is issued to “each wastewater plant that discharge[s] into a receiving stream.” (C.R. at 053-054.) 4 It is not entirely clear from the record whether there was more than one assistant manager. The Court will refer to there being only one because that is what the Referee’s findings and the Board’s Order indicate.

3 13. The [E]mployer investigated the incident and determined the operators were not properly trained and the [C]laimant did not institute a Standard Operating Procedure for the plant to address this type of incident.

14. The [C]laimant did not institute a Standard Operating Procedure to address the type of incident which occurred on April 13, 2020[,] because the incident was unique and had not happened during the course of the [C]laimant’s 25-year employment.

15. After the April 13, 2020 incident, the [C]laimant spoke to the Regional Manager who informed the [C]laimant although the [C]laimant was relying on the [a]ssistant [m]anager to handle the operators during the incident, ultimately, the [C]laimant was responsible for what occurred at the facility.

16. On June 12, 2020[,] an upset of the biological process occurred at the facility which caused the maximum chlorine residual limit to be exceeded.

17. [The] June 12, 2020 incident occurred, in part, because the alarms were set in excess of the maximum chlorine residual limit permitted.

18. The [C]laimant was aware the alarm was set in excess of the maximum chlorine residual limit permitted at the time this incident occurred.

19. On July 10, 2020, a high flow incident occurred at the facility due to a rain event which caused the maximum chlorine residual to exceed 1.6 mg/L.

20. The [C]laimant was on site July 10, 2020, and did not closely supervise the operators, but delegated that responsibility to the [a]ssistant [m]anager.

21. The [C]laimant continued to delegate responsibility for monitoring the operators to the [a]ssistant [m]anager because he trusted them [sic] to handle the responsibility.

22. At some point during the [C]laimant’s employment as a Project Manager, the [E]mployer assigned the [C]laimant to a second facility.

4 23. After the [C]laimant was assigned to a second facility, the [E]mployer observed the [C]laimant was not performing his duties in a satisfactory manner.

24. In February 2020, the [C]laimant was removed as the Project Manager at the second facility.

25. The [C]laimant’s performance as a Project Manager improved between February 2020 and April 2020.

26. At some point, the [C]laimant received a written warning, in part, for unsatisfactory work performance.

27. After the July 10, 2020 incident, the [C]laimant was discharged from employment on July 16, 2020 for unsatisfactory work performance.

(Referee’s Decision, Findings of Fact (FOF) ¶¶ 1-27, C.R. at 076-078.) Based on these findings, the Referee concluded that “[E]mployer has met its burden of proof in establishing the [C]laimant’s discharge from employment was for reasons which rise to the level of willful misconduct in connection with the work[.]” (Referee’s Decision at 4, C.R. at 079.) The Referee explained that “[C]laimant’s decision to continue to delegate . . .

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A. Fletcher v. UCBR, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/a-fletcher-v-ucbr-pacommwct-2022.