FONTENET v. Cypress Bayou Casino

964 So. 2d 1035, 2007 WL 1651061
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 8, 2007
Docket2006 CA 0300
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 964 So. 2d 1035 (FONTENET v. Cypress Bayou Casino) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
FONTENET v. Cypress Bayou Casino, 964 So. 2d 1035, 2007 WL 1651061 (La. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

964 So.2d 1035 (2007)

Julius Wilson FONTENET
v.
CYPRESS BAYOU CASINO and John Wormer Smith.

No. 2006 CA 0300.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

June 8, 2007.

*1036 Edward J. Cloos, III, Covington, Counsel for Plaintiff-Appellant Julius W. Fontenet.

John S. Evans, M. Blake Monrose, Lafayette, Counsel for Defendant-Appellee Chitimache Tribe of Louisiana d/b/a Cypress Bayou Casino.

J. Jerome Burden, Baton Rouge, Counsel for Defendant-Appellee Louisiana Department of Labor, Office of Employment Security.

Before: CARTER, C.J., WHIPPLE, PARRO, KUHN, GUIDRY, PETTIGREW, DOWNING, GAIDRY, McDONALD, McCLENDON, HUGHES, and WELCH, JJ.

PARRO, J.

A discharged employee appeals the district court's judgment affirming the decision of the Board of Review[1] pertaining to the determination that she was not entitled to receive unemployment compensation benefits because her termination was based on misconduct. For the following reasons, we affirm.

Facts and Procedural History

The Chitimache Tribe of Louisiana, doing business as Cypress Bayou Casino (Cypress Bayou), employed Julius W. Fontenet (Fontenet) as a booth cashier at its casino located in Charenton, Louisiana. Cypress Bayou terminated Fontenet's employment on April 23, 2004, following an incident in which she left a "strap" of $1 bills, valued at $100, unattended on the counter of her booth within reach of customers.

Following her discharge, Fontenet filed a claim for unemployment compensation benefits. She later received written notice from the Louisiana Department of Labor *1037 (Department) that she had been discharged from her employment as a result of her failure to abide by company rules/policies of which she was aware, that her discharge was for misconduct connected with her employment, and that she was disqualified for benefits, pursuant to LSA-R.S. 23:1601(2). Fontenet appealed the Department's determination to an appeal referee (referee). See LSA-R.S. 23:1629(A). A hearing before the referee was conducted by telephone conference on June 15, 2004, after which a written decision was issued affirming the Department's determination of disqualification[2] for Fontenet's failure to abide by company rules and policies of which she was aware.

Dissatisfied with the decision of the referee, Fontenet filed an appeal to the Board of Review (Board). See LSA-R.S. 23:1630. After considering the complete record, the Board adopted the findings of fact and conclusions of law of the referee and affirmed the referee's decision in all respects. Fontenet then filed a petition for judicial review in the district court. See LSA-R.S. 23:1634. After considering the record, the district court affirmed the decision of the Board, upholding the agency's determination of disqualification. Fontenet appealed, alleging that the district court erred as a matter of law in concluding that Fontenet's conduct constituted disqualifying misconduct under applicable statutes and jurisprudence. He also urged that the district court erred in concluding that Cypress Bayou met its burden of showing the existence of misconduct at the administrative proceeding.

Misconduct

An individual shall be disqualified for benefits if it is found that the individual was discharged by the employer for misconduct connected with his employment. LSA-R.S. 23:1601(2)(a). Misconduct is defined as "mismanagement of a position of employment by action or inaction, neglect that places in jeopardy the lives or property of others, dishonesty, wrongdoing, violation of a law, or violation of a policy or rule adopted to insure orderly work or the safety of others." LSA-R.S. 23:1601(2)(a).

Where the employer seeks to deny unemployment benefits because of employee misconduct, the burden of proof is on the employer. Buggage v. Assumption Parish Sheriff Dept., 05-1058 (La.App. 1st Cir.5/5/06), 934 So.2d 180, 181; Clipps v. State, Dept. of Labor, 02-1780 (La.App. 1st Cir.3/28/03), 844 So.2d 321, 324, writ denied, 03-0977 (La.5/16/03), 843 So.2d 1138. Proof must be by a preponderance of the evidence. Buggage, 934 So.2d at 181.

The referee, whose findings of fact and conclusions of law were adopted by the Board, found, in pertinent part:

The claimant was employed by Cypress Bayou Casino from September 23, 1998 to April 23, 2004 as a cashier. . . . She had received write-ups or reprimands previously for work performance and related issues. The number of write-ups for work performance issues such as excessive shortages in cash drawers under her responsibility had increased in the time period prior to the claimant's discharge. The number of write-ups reached the point where the employer gave a final notice to the claimant in regards to her employment on March 03, 2004.
An incident occurred on April 16, 2004 that was discovered by the employer when they reviewed the videotapes under normal security procedures the following *1038 week. The claimant was seen to have left straps (bundles) of cash in an area in her cage that were accessible to the public while she was answering a phone that was ringing in an adjacent cage area. The claimant was supposed to have secured the money before taking any action that diverted her attention from the cash under her responsibility. Because of the prior multiple write-ups on the claimant's record the final incident was viewed as sufficient justification to warrant discharge from employment.

Based on these findings, the referee concluded that the evidence showed "misconduct connected to the employment sufficient to warrant denial of benefits" and affirmed the determination of disqualification.

Appellate review does not entail the weighing of evidence, drawing of inferences, re-evaluation of evidence, or substituting the views of this court for those of the referee or Board as to the correctness of facts. St. Tammany Parish School Bd. v. State, Dept. of Labor, Office of Employment Security, 01-0757 (La.App. 1st Cir.5/10/02), 818 So.2d 914, 917. The scope of appellate review in this matter is limited to determining whether the facts are supported by sufficient and competent evidence and whether the facts, as a matter of law, justify the action taken. See LSA-R.S. 23:1634(B); see also Johnson v. Whitfield, 521 So.2d 641, 644 (La.App. 1st Cir.1988).

In this appeal, Fontenet does not dispute the factual findings relating to her discharge, rather she disputes the determination that her conduct constituted misconduct sufficient to disqualify her from receiving benefits. She raises two primary arguments in support of this assertion. First, she contends that the referee erred in evaluating her conduct solely under the statutory definition of "misconduct," and secondly, in not considering whether her conduct constituted "misconduct" under the more restrictive definition of the term that evolved in the jurisprudence.

In the past, courts have required a showing that misconduct emanated from a willful or wanton disregard of the employer's interest, from an intentional breach of the employer's rules, from a direct disregard of the standard of behavior which the employer has a right to expect from its employees, or from negligence in such a degree or recurrence as to manifest culpability, wrongful interest, or evil design, or showing of an intentional and substantial disregard of the employee's duties and obligations to the employer to constitute disqualifying misconduct under LSA-R.S. 23:1601(2). See Charbonnet v. Gerace,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
964 So. 2d 1035, 2007 WL 1651061, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fontenet-v-cypress-bayou-casino-lactapp-2007.