Coahoma County v. Mississippi Employment SEC. Com'n

761 So. 2d 846, 2000 WL 539746
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedMay 4, 2000
Docket1999-CC-01551-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 761 So. 2d 846 (Coahoma County v. Mississippi Employment SEC. Com'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Coahoma County v. Mississippi Employment SEC. Com'n, 761 So. 2d 846, 2000 WL 539746 (Mich. 2000).

Opinion

761 So.2d 846 (2000)

COAHOMA COUNTY, Mississippi
v.
MISSISSIPPI EMPLOYMENT SECURITY COMMISSION and Jacqueline D. Wallace.

No. 1999-CC-01551-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

May 4, 2000.

*847 Tom T. Ross, Jr., Clarksdale, Attorney for Appellant.

Albert B. White, Madison, Attorney for Appellees.

BEFORE PITTMAN, P.J., McRAE AND SMITH, JJ.

SMITH, Justice, for the Court:

¶ 1. Coahoma County, Mississippi appeals to this Court from a judgment of the Circuit Court of Coahoma County, which affirmed the award by the Board of Review of the Mississippi Employment Security Commission (Commission) of unemployment compensation benefits to Jacqueline D. Wallace. Wallace was discharged from her with the county employment due to alleged misconduct. After careful review, we find that Wallace's actions did not rise to the level of misconduct pursuant to Miss.Code Ann. § 71-5-513 (Supp.1999). We affirm the circuit court.

FACTS

¶ 2. Jacqueline D. Wallace ("Wallace") was employed as the main control officer at the Coahoma County Sheriffs Department jail for approximately 2 years. Her last day of work was on November 10, 1998, when she was suspended pending an *848 investigation into an inmate complaint of sexual harassment. As main control operator, she was responsible for monitoring activities of all jail surveillance cameras to detect any unusual activities or equipment malfunction and reporting it to the supervisor. She was also required to complete an incident report detailing any problems on her shift. Wallace worked from 11:00 p.m. until 7:00 a.m. on October 21, 1998, October 22, 1998, October 28, 1998, and November 5, 1998. No reports of unusual activities were reported during these shifts. However, the inmates complained the harassment occurred on these shifts. The surveillance tapes were reviewed, and they showed the booking area camera was covered approximately thirty-one minutes on October 23, 1998, and the camera for the same area was again covered approximately twelve minutes on October 29, 1998.

¶ 3. Wallace denied being aware of the tampering with the cameras, but admitted that she sometimes left the monitors ten or fifteen minutes to go to the restroom which was located in her immediate work area. On November 17, 1998, Wallace was discharged for putting the safety of the inmates and employees in jeopardy because she did not report another employee for covering up a monitoring camera.

¶ 4. Wallace applied with the Commission for unemployment compensation benefits, and the Commission's claims examiner denied the claim. Wallace appealed the claims examiner's decision to the Appeals Referee of the Commission. The Appeals Referee entered a written decision finding Wallace was discharged for neglect of her duties and that willful misconduct had been shown. Wallace appealed this decision to the Board of Review which found that Wallace did not willfully and deliberately violate any rule of the employer and that she performed her work to the best of her ability. The disqualification for benefits was canceled. On the county's subsequent appeal, the circuit court affirmed the decision of the Board of Review. Coahoma County, aggrieved by the circuit court's judgment, appeals to this Court and assigns the following issue as error:

STATEMENT OF THE ISSUE

I. WHETHER THE CIRCUIT COURT ERRED IN FINDING THAT THE BOARD OF REVIEW'S DECISION WAS SUPPORTED BY SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE AND WAS NOT ARBITRARY NOR CAPRICIOUS.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 5. This Court has clearly set forth the standard of review of an Employment Security Commission ruling:

Judicial review of an Employment Security Commission ruling is limited to determination of whether the decision is supported by substantial evidence.... This Court must review the record to determine whether there is substantial evidence to support the Board of Review's findings of fact, and further, whether, as a matter of law, the employee's actions constituted misconduct disqualifying him from eligibility for unemployment compensation benefits....
Miss.Code Ann. § 71-5-513(A)(1)(b) (Rev.1989) provides that an individual may be disqualified for unemployment benefits if he was discharged "for misconduct connected with his work." The employer has the burden of showing by "substantial, clear, and convincing evidence" that the former employee's conduct warrants disqualification from eligibility for benefits ...

City of Clarksdale v. Mississippi Employment Sec. Comm'n, 699 So.2d 578, 580 (Miss.1997)(quoting Foster v. Mississippi Employment Sec. Comm'n, 632 So.2d 926, 927 (Miss. 1994)). Further, judicial review of a decision of the Board of Review is also governed by Miss.Code Ann. § 71-5-531(1995) which reads in pertinent part as follows:

*849 In any judicial proceedings under this section, the findings of the board of review as to the facts, if supported by evidence and in the absence of fraud, shall be conclusive, and the jurisdiction of said court shall be confined to questions of law. Miss.Code Ann. § 71-5-531 (1995)....

City of Clarksdale, 699 So.2d at 581.

DISCUSSION OF THE LAW

I. WHETHER THE DECISION OF THE CIRCUIT COURT AFFIRMING THE MISSISSIPPI EMPLOYMENT SECURITY COMMISSION WAS SUPPORTED BY SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE AND WAS NOT ARBITRARY NOR CAPRICIOUS.

¶ 6. The threshold question is whether the charges against Wallace constituted misconduct under the law, and whether the findings and decision of the Board of Review were supported by substantial evidence. Miss.Code Ann. § 71-5-513 (Supp. 1999) states in pertinent part:

A. An individual shall be disqualified for benefits: (1)(b) For the week, or fraction thereof, which immediately follows the day on which he was discharged for misconduct connected with his work, if so found by the commission, and for each week thereafter until he has earned remuneration for personal services performed for an employer, as in this chapter defined, equal to not less than eight (8) times his weekly benefit amount, as determined in each case.

¶ 7. This Court has said there is no dearth of Mississippi case law with respect to what is required to prove misconduct. Young v. Mississippi Employment Sec. Comm'n, 754 So.2d 464, 466 (Miss.1999).

[T]he meaning of the term "misconduct," as used in the unemployment compensation statute, was conduct evincing such willful and wanton disregard of the employer's interest as is found in deliberate violations or disregard of standards of behavior which the employer has the right to expect from his employee. Also, carelessness and negligence of such degree, or recurrence thereof, as to manifest culpability, wrongful intent or evil design, and showing an intentional or substantial disregard of the employer's interest or of the employee's duties and obligations to his employer, came within the term.

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Bluebook (online)
761 So. 2d 846, 2000 WL 539746, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/coahoma-county-v-mississippi-employment-sec-comn-miss-2000.