Bhatia v. Department of Employment Security

834 P.2d 574, 188 Utah Adv. Rep. 40, 1992 Utah App. LEXIS 116, 1992 WL 127902
CourtCourt of Appeals of Utah
DecidedJune 2, 1992
Docket910498-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 834 P.2d 574 (Bhatia v. Department of Employment Security) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Utah primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bhatia v. Department of Employment Security, 834 P.2d 574, 188 Utah Adv. Rep. 40, 1992 Utah App. LEXIS 116, 1992 WL 127902 (Utah Ct. App. 1992).

Opinions

OPINION

BILLINGS, Associate Presiding Judge:

Petitioner Jasbir S. Bhatia (Bhatia) seeks reversal of a final decision of the Board of Review of the Industrial Commission of [576]*576Utah (Board) denying him unemployment benefits. We affirm.

FACTS

Pizza Hut of Utah (Pizza Hut) hired Bha-tia as a cook on April 2, 1990. On October 24, 1990, Bhatia was scheduled to work the evening shift, from approximately 5:00 p.m. until closing time. Bhatia’s duties included cutting breadsticks and pizzas as they came out of the ovens. Due to a special promotion, Pizza Hut was crowded that evening, and the staff was particularly busy.

Bhatia was behind in filling orders. Also, Bhatia had a reputation among the servers for not preparing orders in the sequence in which he received them. In view of this situation, one of the servers occasionally went into the cutting area to cut her own breadsticks to ensure her customers were properly served. Bhatia resented the server’s presence in his work area and loudly told her several times to leave.

At approximately 7:30 p.m., Bhatia received a telephone call from another employer, informing Bhatia he had been discharged from a part-time position. Although Bhatia accepted this news calmly and returned to work, he again became irritated with the server.

The restaurant manager, having heard Bhatia’s requests, was aware Bhatia was upset with the server. The manager turned from the cash register and asked him “to settle down,” reminding him that everyone was under pressure. She advised him that, when the rush was over, they “would all sit down and talk” about the problem. Bhatia responded by throwing his hands in the air and announcing, in a voice loud enough for a customer to hear, “This is bullshit. I am leaving.” Bhatia then checked out and left at approximately 8:00 p.m. while the restaurant was crowded and before the end of his shift. When Bhatia did not return to work that evening, the manager decided to terminate his employment.

Although Bhatia contacted Pizza Hut the next day to advise his employer that he wished to continue his employment, he was told he had been discharged. A meeting was scheduled the following day, at which time Bhatia was asked to sign a suspension notice pursuant to Pizza Hut’s progressive discipline policy, but he refused. Pizza Hut has instituted a progressive discipline program to improve substandard employee performance which provides for oral and written warnings. Bhatia never received any formal disciplinary warnings prior to his discharge.

The Utah Department of Employment Security granted Bhatia unemployment benefits effective October 21, 1990, and Pizza Hut appealed. On March 12, 1991, a hearing was held before an administrative law judge. The administrative law judge reversed the department’s decision, determining Bhatia was terminated for just cause. Bhatia appealed to the Board, which affirmed.

On appeal to this court, Bhatia claims he was not terminated for just cause because: (1) His conduct was an “isolated incident” and, thus, not sufficiently culpable; and (2) he did not have sufficient knowledge of what conduct Pizza Hut expected because its management failed to follow its progressive discipline policy.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

Utah’s Employment Security Act is to be “construed liberally in favor of affording benefits.” Nielsen v. Department of Employment Sec., 692 P.2d 774, 776 (Utah 1984) (per curiam); accord DeLuca v. Department of Employment Sec., 746 P.2d 276, 278 (Utah App.1987). However, an employee is ineligible for unemployment benefits if the employee was “discharged for just cause” as determined by the Board. Utah Code Ann. § 35-4-5(b)(l) (1988).

Whether an employee was terminated for just cause is a mixed question of law and fact. See Department of the Air Force v. Department of Employment Sec., 786 P.2d 1361, 1363 (Utah App.), cert. denied sub nom. United States v. Industrial, 795 P.2d 1138 (Utah 1990); Johnson v. Depar[577]*577tment of Employment Sec., 782 P.2d 965, 968 (Utah App.1989). Utah courts have recently altered the traditional characterization of the standard of review for such issues because of the adoption of the Utah Administrative Procedures Act. In Morton International, Inc. v. Auditing Division of the Utah State Tax Commission, 814 P.2d 581 (Utah 1991), the Utah Supreme Court held that, under the UAPA it is only “appropriate to grant [an] agency deference on the basis of an explicit or implicit grant of discretion contained in the governing statute.” Id. at 588; accord Tasters, Ltd. v. Department of Employment Sec., 819 P.2d 361, 364 (Utah App.1991). If such an award of discretion exists, the agency’s action “should be affirmed if its decision is reasonable and rational.” Department of the Air Force v. Swider, 824 P.2d 448, 451 (Utah App.1991); accord Johnson-Bowles Co. v. Division of Sec., 829 P.2d 101, 107 (Utah App.1992); Tasters, 819 P.2d at 365. Otherwise, we apply a correction-of-error standard. See Morton, 814 P.2d at 588; Johnson-Bowles, 829 P.2d at 107.

To ascertain the proper standard of review in this case, we must thus determine if section 35-4-5(b)(l) grants the Board discretion in deciding whether an employee was terminated for just cause. The operative language in section 35-4-5(b)(1) states that unemployment benefits will not be awarded if the employee “was discharged for just cause ... if so found by the commission.” In Swider, we concluded that, through this language, “the requisite grant of discretion was made by the Legislature to the Board.” Swider, 824 P.2d at 451.1 Therefore, we will uphold the Board’s decision denying Bhatia unemployment benefits if it is reasonable and rational.

An employee is terminated for just cause if three factors are met: “(1) culpability, (2) knowledge of expected conduct, and (3) control over the offending conduct.” Nelson v. Department of Employment Sec., 801 P.2d 158, 161 (Utah App.1990); accord Utah Code Admin.P. R475-5b-102 (1991); Grinnell v. Board of Review, 732 P.2d 113, 114 (Utah 1987) (per curiam). The employer bears the burden of establishing just cause for the discharge, see Utah Code Admin.P. R475-5b-103 (1991); Department of the Air Force, 786 P.2d at 1363, and must satisfy all three conditions to demonstrate an employee is not entitled to unemployment benefits. See Nelson, 801 P.2d at 161; Law Offices of David Paul White & Assocs. v. Board of Review, 778 P.2d 21, 24 (Utah App.1989).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Stepsaver, Inc. v. Department of Workforce Services
2013 UT App 207 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2013)
Carbon County v. Department of Workforce Services
2012 UT App 4 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2012)
EAGALA, INC. v. Department of Workforce Services
2007 UT App 43 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2007)
Cox v. State ex rel. Oklahoma Department of Human Services
2004 OK 17 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 2004)
Cox v. STATE EX REL. OKLAHOMA DHS
2004 OK 17 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 2004)
Autoliv ASP, Inc. v. Department of Workforce Services
2001 UT App 198 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2001)
Niederhauser v. TAX COM'N
858 P.2d 1034 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 1993)
Employers' Reinsurance Fund v. Industrial Commission
856 P.2d 648 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 1993)
Albertsons, Inc. v. Department of Employment Security
854 P.2d 570 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 1993)
King v. Industrial Com'n of Utah
850 P.2d 1281 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 1993)
Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Utah State Tax Commission
847 P.2d 418 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 1993)
Belnorth Petroleum Corp. v. State Tax Commission
845 P.2d 266 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 1993)
Luckau v. Board of Review of the Industrial Commission
840 P.2d 811 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 1992)
Gibson v. Department of Employment Security
840 P.2d 780 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 1992)
Bhatia v. Department of Employment Security
834 P.2d 574 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 1992)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
834 P.2d 574, 188 Utah Adv. Rep. 40, 1992 Utah App. LEXIS 116, 1992 WL 127902, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bhatia-v-department-of-employment-security-utahctapp-1992.