Fox v. Employment Department

323 P.3d 530, 261 Or. App. 560, 2014 WL 960870, 2014 Ore. App. LEXIS 286
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedMarch 12, 2014
Docket13AB0829, 13AB0830; A154624
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 323 P.3d 530 (Fox v. Employment Department) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fox v. Employment Department, 323 P.3d 530, 261 Or. App. 560, 2014 WL 960870, 2014 Ore. App. LEXIS 286 (Or. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

NAKAMOTO, J.

On judicial review of an order of the Employment Appeals Board (the EAB), claimant challenges her disqualification from receipt of unemployment insurance benefits based on a discharge from her employment for misconduct, ORS 657.176(2)(a). The EAB set aside the decision of the administrative law judge (ALJ) allowing benefits. Because the EAB did not consider claimant’s intent in regard to the incident leading to her termination, and the incident could be an isolated instance of poor judgment and not disqualifying misconduct, the EAB’s order lacked substantial reason, and we reverse.

We take the facts, which are undisputed, from the EAB’s order and the record. Kaiser Foundation Health (Kaiser) employed claimant as a pharmacy technician from August 1999 to January 29, 2013. Kaiser expected employees to clock in and start work no more than four minutes after their shift started, to accurately report their time worked, and to refrain from falsifying their time records. Claimant understood those expectations. On January 17, 2013, claimant’s shift started at 6:30 a.m. When claimant arrived at Kaiser’s parking lot, she was concerned that she would be late for work and parked her vehicle in a loading zone near her building to ensure that she clocked in by 6:34 a.m. After clocking in at 6:33 a.m., claimant left the building, moved her vehicle to a parking space, and then returned to the building. She then went to her work station and started work at 6:36 a.m. She worked subsequent shifts until she was terminated at the end of January. Kaiser’s reason for terminating claimant was that she had violated its attendance policy on earlier occasions and that claimant had committed time-card fraud on January 17.

The Employment Department initially denied claimant’s unemployment insurance benefits claim, concluding that Kaiser had discharged claimant for misconduct because claimant had committed time-card fraud on January 17, which was a willful violation of the standards of behavior that an employer has the right to expect from an employee. Claimant then appealed the department’s decision and requested a hearing. The ALJ held a hearing at which [562]*562claimant and a Kaiser manager testified. The ALJ determined that Kaiser had not discharged claimant for misconduct, and therefore claimant was not disqualified from receiving benefits.

The ALJ believed claimant’s testimony that she had not purposefully committed attendance violations in the past and that, on those prior occasions, she had “punched in as required,” but “that the time-record system was new and gave no indication to an employee whether she had clocked in or out successfully or not, and that the corrective actions to which [Kaiser] testified came several weeks after the alleged incidents so that she had no meaningful opportunity to refute them at the time.” As for the car-moving incident on January 17, the ALJ found that “ [claimant had in the past sometimes parked in the loading zone without later moving her vehicle” and found credible claimant’s testimony that she had made a snap decision to run out to move her car. The ALJ credited claimant’s testimony that “she was unaware that her actions might be construed as time fraud” and that “her decision to move her vehicle was an instantaneous one without reflection.” The ALJ further found that claimant “has time-management issues due to her formally diagnosed attention deficit order.” The ALJ concluded that her conduct “lack[ed] the mens rea required by OAR 471-030-0038” for misconduct, that is, willful or wantonly negligent violation of the standards of behavior that an employer has a right to expect. OAR 471-030-0038(3)(a). The ALJ concluded that Kaiser had not met its burden to establish that claimant had committed time-card fraud and concluded that claimant’s violation of the time policy by moving her car was an isolated instance of poor judgment.

Kaiser appealed the ALJ’s order to the EAB. The EAB’s findings focused solely on the car-moving incident on January 17, omitting any reference to claimant’s testimony about attendance violations based on the new time-keeping system and the ALJ’s findings as to that part of the basis for Kaiser’s decision to terminate claimant’s employment. As to the January 17 incident, the EAB omitted the ALJ’s finding that claimant had sometimes parked and left her car in the loading zone and instead found that claimant “knew her vehicle likely would be towed or ticketed if she did not move [563]*563it from the loading zone.” The EAB also omitted the ALJ’s finding that claimant has attention-deficit disorder and had made an instantaneous decision to move her vehicle without reflection that day.

The EAB concluded that claimant had engaged in misconduct on January 17 based on her knowledge that Kaiser expected her to keep time accurately, reasoning as follows:

“[CJlaimant’s understanding of the employer’s expectation that she accurately report her time worked, and refrain from falsifying her time records is sufficient to show that she knew her conduct violated those expectations. Claimant’s conscious failure to report her time worked accurately and her falsification of her time records therefore were willful, and not the result of a good faith error in her understanding of the employer’s expectations. Regardless of whether claimant intended to commit fraud, her willful failure to report her time worked accurately and her falsification of her time records were acts of dishonesty sufficient to create an irreparable breach of trust in the employment relationship that made a continued relationship impossible. Claimant’s conduct therefore exceeded mere poor judgment.”

(Footnote omitted.) Accordingly, the EAB set aside the ALJ’s decision and disqualified claimant from the receipt of benefits.

On judicial review, claimant contends that the AL J was correct and that she did not commit disqualifying misconduct. Neither the EAB nor the employer has appeared and filed a brief on appeal. We review the EAB’s findings for substantial evidence and review the EAB’s order for substantial reason and errors of law. Freeman v. Employment Dept., 195 Or App 417, 421, 98 P3d 402 (2004); see also Drew v. PSRB, 322 Or 491, 500, 909 P2d 1211 (1996) (stating that “[a]gencies also are required to demonstrate in their opinions the reasoning that leads the agency from the facts that it has found to the conclusions that it draws from those facts” (emphasis in original)).

Claimant does not dispute the legal standards that apply to a discharge case. The employer has the burden [564]*564to establish misconduct by a preponderance of evidence. Babcock v. Employment Div., 25 Or App 661, 664, 550 P2d 1233 (1976). Under ORS 657.176(2)(a), an individual who “ [h] as been discharged for misconduct connected with work” is not entitled to receive unemployment insurance benefits. “Misconduct” is defined in OAR 471-030-0038(3)(a) as “a willful or wantonly negligent violation of the standards of behavior which an employer has the right to expect of an employee” as well as “ [a] n act or series of actions that amount to a willful or wantonly negligent disregard of an employer’s interest.” However, an act is not “misconduct” if it is, among other things, an isolated instance of poor judgment. OAR 471-030-0038(3)(b).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
323 P.3d 530, 261 Or. App. 560, 2014 WL 960870, 2014 Ore. App. LEXIS 286, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fox-v-employment-department-orctapp-2014.