Davis v. School of the Ozarks, Inc.

188 S.W.3d 94, 2006 Mo. App. LEXIS 243, 2006 WL 465103
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 28, 2006
Docket26882
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 188 S.W.3d 94 (Davis v. School of the Ozarks, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Davis v. School of the Ozarks, Inc., 188 S.W.3d 94, 2006 Mo. App. LEXIS 243, 2006 WL 465103 (Mo. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinions

KENNETH W. SHRUM, Presiding Judge.

Jonathan Davis (“Claimant”) appeals from an order of the Labor and Industrial Commission (“Commission”) that denied his claim for unemployment benefits. His brief contains four points of alleged Commission error. We affirm.

Claimant previously worked for The School of the Ozarks, Inc., d/b/a College of the Ozarks (“College”) as a biology professor. This employment was pursuant to a series of one year, probationary contracts. Claimant’s last contract with College was [98]*98for the 2003-04 school year and ended May 31, 2004.

College notified Claimant via letter dated December 18, 2003, that his contract for the 2004-05 year would not be renewed. A separate letter informed Claimant he was suspended (with pay) for the spring 2004 semester. This happened after Claimant sent out anonymous e-mails, memorandums, and letters that questioned whether a doctorate degree claimed by Larry Coekrum (College’s dean of administration) was a “diploma mill” degree.

College’s reasons for sending Claimant the non-renewal letter and suspension notice were that (a) Claimant did not use grievance procedures set forth in College’s Faculty Handbook to raise the “diploma mill” issue and (b) Claimant’s use of College’s computers to send the subject emails violated established policy regarding computer usage. Claimant admitted he knew of the grievance procedures, but maintained he was excused from using them because of the subject at issue, namely, “unethical conduct or fraud by a top administrator of the college.”

Once Claimant learned of College’s action regarding his employment, he filed three grievances per procedures afforded him by the faculty handbook. During the pendency of these grievances, College’s president sent Claimant a letter dated March 2, 2004. Therein, College offered to keep Claimant employed, provided he fulfilled certain conditions.1 Claimant failed to respond to the letter. That failure is why Commission found Claimant left his employment voluntarily without good cause attributable to his work or his employer.

Because of its relevance, we reproduce parts of the March 2, 2004, letter, as follows:

“I propose the following nonnegotiable resolution of these matters.”
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“Second, I [College president] will have your probationary contract issued for the next academic year in the usual manner. This contract will be issued with the strict condition that you will review the Faculty Handbook, have a thorough knowledge of its contents, and agree to follow the Handbook in the future. If you successfully complete your probationary period, I will have the record of your suspension and nonre-newal removed from your file.”
[[Image here]]
“As you know, contracts are being issued this week, so I need your response to this proposal no later than Thursday, March 4th.”2

[99]*99At the hearing on his claim, Claimant testified he thought the March 2 offer was “too vague,” although he admitted never contacting College’s president to ask questions or get more details.

Because Claimant never responded to the March letter offering a 2004-05 contract, the grievance procedure continued. That process was completed May 10, 2004, when College’s board of trustees ruled its administrators were justified in notifying Claimant of non-renewal of his 2004-05 contact and suspending him for the spring 2004 semester.

Claimant filed for unemployment benefits on June 11, 2004, claiming loss of employment as of May 31, 2004. College timely protested, asserting Claimant’s unemployment resulted from misconduct connected with his work. Based on that assertion, College argued Claimant was disqualified for benefits for the period in which he sought them. A deputy for the Division of Employment Security (“Division”) agreed with College, finding that Claimant was disqualified for five weeks from June 6, 2004, because of “misconduct connected with work.”

Claimant appealed from the deputy’s decision. After an evidentiary hearing, the appeals tribunal (per a decision by referee Villines) agreed that Claimant was disqualified for benefits, but found a different reason for disqualification. Specifically, the referee found Claimant ineligible because he quit work voluntarily without good cause attributable to work or the employer. The “quit work” finding was based on Claimant’s lack of response to College’s March 2, 2004, proposal.3

An appeal of this decision was taken by Claimant to Commission. It affirmed the Appeal Tribunal’s decision. Claimant’s appeal to this court followed.

Review is under section 288.210.4 “Under that section, appellate review in unemployment compensation cases is limited to whether the Commission’s decision is supported by competent substantial evidence and authorized by law.” Streitz v. Juneau, 940 S.W.2d 548, 550[1] (Mo.App.1997). “The evidence is viewed in the light most favorable to the finding of the Commission and all reasonable inferences drawn therefrom which support the decision.” Id. at 550[2]. “We defer to the Commission’s resolution of witness credibility, and where the Commission, as a trier of fact, has reached one of two possi[100]*100ble conclusions from the evidence, this court will not reach a contrary conclusion even if such a conclusion might have reasonably been reached.” City of Branson v. Santo, 111 S.W.3d 910, 914[4] (Mo.App.2003).

Claimant’s first point maintains Commission committed reversible error because the facts found by Commission do not support denying his claim for benefits. He says this is so because all evidence, from both Claimant and College, shows that Claimant lost his job because he was discharged rather than voluntarily quit; that the only factual issue before Commission was whether he was discharged for misconduct associated with his work. He insists that the words “left work voluntarily” cannot, by any construction, extend to the situation shown by this record.

In pertinent part, section 288.050.1 provides that claimant is “disqualified for waiting week credit or benefits until [he] has earned wages ... equal to ten times [his] weekly benefit amount if the deputy finds: (1) That [he] has left work voluntarily without good cause attributable to [his] work or to his employer.” (Emphasis supplied.)

In urging reversal, Claimant points out that section 288.050.1(1) only has application when a person leaves work of his own accord and volition. See Moore v. Swisher Mower & Machine Co., Inc., 49 S.W.3d 731, 737[8] (Mo.App.2001). Accordingly, an employee will not be held to have left work voluntarily when the employer decides to end the employment relationship. Sokol v. Labor and Industrial Relations Comm’n, 946 S.W.2d 20, 25 (Mo.App.1997).

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188 S.W.3d 94, 2006 Mo. App. LEXIS 243, 2006 WL 465103, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/davis-v-school-of-the-ozarks-inc-moctapp-2006.