Hirsch v. Convergys Customer Management Group, Inc.

422 S.W.3d 525, 2014 WL 536024, 2014 Mo. App. LEXIS 120
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 11, 2014
DocketNo. ED 99945
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 422 S.W.3d 525 (Hirsch v. Convergys Customer Management Group, 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
Hirsch v. Convergys Customer Management Group, Inc., 422 S.W.3d 525, 2014 WL 536024, 2014 Mo. App. LEXIS 120 (Mo. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

SHERRI B. SULLIVAN, J.

Introduction

Cheryl Hirsch (Employee) appeals from the decision of the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission (Commission) denying her unemployment benefits. We affirm.

Factual and Procedural Background

Employee worked full-time as a sales representative for Convergys Customer Management Group, Inc. (Employer) from July 13, 2007 until November 9, 2012, when she was discharged for exceeding the number of times she was allowed to be absent or tardy by Employer’s attendance policy. Employer has a no-fault, twelvemonth point-based rolling attendance policy that results in discharge once an employee accrues twelve points. This attendance policy is in writing and was signed by Employee when she began working for Employer. The policy was also explained to Employee when she began working for Employer, as it is to all new employees during their training.

The attendance policy is a no-fault policy, and the only excused absences are jury duty and bereavement. The policy is set up on a “rolling” 365-day timeframe, in that it allows for accumulated points to be “rolled off” after a month with no point accumulation.

Employee’s documented attendance history demonstrated she was late or absent twenty-six times in the 365-day period from November 15, 2011 through November 7, 2012, constituting an accumulation of fifteen points. After subtracting the points that “rolled off” during that period, Employee had reached the twelve-point termination point when she was tardy on October 19, 2012, and could have been discharged at that juncture. However, because Employee was tardy due to a traffic accident on the highway, Employer excused it but warned her that her next attendance infraction would result in her discharge. Employee was tardy on November 7, 2012 and was subsequently discharged on November 9, 2012.

On November 15, 2012, Employee filed a claim for unemployment benefits, which Employer protested on November 26, 2012. On December 13, 2012, a deputy (Deputy) with the Division of Employment Security (Division) found Employee was not disqualified from unemployment benefits because the discharge was not for misconduct connected with work. Specifically, the Deputy stated, “The claimant was discharged because of absences. Although the absences exceeded the limit allowed under the employer’s policy, the claimant did not willfully violate the policy.”

On January 14, 2013, Employer appealed the Deputy’s decision to the Appeals Tribunal (Tribunal), maintaining that Employee “willfully violated our attendance policy by exceeding the threshold for allowable attendance issues within a 365 day period.” On February 7, 2013, the Tribunal conducted a hearing via telephone conference. Employee and Tim Moody (Moody), a “team leader” representing Employer, testified at the hearing. Moody described Employer’s attendance policy in detail and testified about Employee’s attendance record including her absences [528]*528and tardies from March 12, 2012 through November 7, 2012, and provided written documentation thereof. Employee testified four of her absences and tardies from March 12, 2012 through November 7, 2012, were caused by legal issues with her son in juvenile court; one absence was necessitated by family issues following her sister-in-law’s death; one was due to illness; and the remaining absences and tardies were caused by car trouble.

On February 11, 2013, the Tribunal issued its decision reversing the Deputy’s determination and finding Employee was discharged for misconduct connected with work, in that her “behavior was in willful disregard” of Employer’s attendance policy which “reasonably seeks to account for its employees during scheduled work.”

On March 6, 2013, Employee appealed the Tribunal’s decision to the Commission. On April 1, 2013, the Commission affirmed and adopted the Tribunal’s decision as its own, finding it to be fully supported by the competent and substantial evidence on the whole record and in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Missouri Employment Security Law. This appeal follows.

Point Relied On

Employee claims the Commission erred in concluding she was discharged from her job for misconduct as a result of violating Employer’s attendance policy by being absent and tardy too many times, because there was not sufficient competent evidence to support the award in that the majority of her late arrivals to work were due to transportation issues, and Employer did not submit in its entirety the reasons for her absences and tardies.

Standard of Review

We will uphold the award of the Commission if there is sufficient competent and substantial evidence to support the award. Berwin v. Lindenwood Female College, 205 S.W.3d 291, 294 (Mo.App.E.D.2006); Hampton v. Big Boy Steel Erection, 121 S.W.3d 220, 222-23 (Mo.banc 2003). We defer to the Commission’s resolution of conflicting evidence regarding a factual issue, the weighing of evidence, and witness credibility. Guccione v. Ray’s Tree Serv., 302 S.W.3d 252, 256 (Mo.App.E.D.2010). However, whether an employee’s conduct constitutes misconduct connected with work is a question of law, which this court reviews de novo. Id. We are not bound by the Commission’s conclusions of law or its application of the law to the facts. Difatta-Wheaton v. Dolphin Capital Corp., 271 S.W.3d 594, 595 (Mo. banc 2008).

Discussion

It is Missouri’s declared public policy to set aside unemployment reserves for the benefit of individuals unemployed through no fault of their own. Section 288.020.1.1 An employee is prohibited from recovering unemployment benefits if he is discharged for misconduct connected with work. Section 288.050.2. “Misconduct” is defined by statute as:

[A]n act of wanton or willful disregard of the employer’s interest, a deliberate violation of the employer’s rules, a disregard of standards of behavior which the employer has the right to expect of his employee, or negligence in such degree or recurrence as to manifest culpability, wrongful intent, or evil design or show an intentional and substantial disregard of the employer’s interest or of the employee’s duties and obligations to the employer.

[529]*529Section 288.030.1(23). While an employee generally bears the burden of demonstrating he is entitled to unemployment benefits, the burden shifts to the employer to prove misconduct connected with work when the employer asserts the employee was discharged for misconduct. Kleimann v. St. Louis County Cab Co., Inc., 342 S.W.3d 415, 418 (Mo.App.ED.2011). Generally, the employer has the burden of proving by substantial and competent evidence that the claimant was discharged for misconduct. White v. Wackenhut Corp., 208 S.W.3d 916, 918-19 (Mo.App.E.D.2006).

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422 S.W.3d 525, 2014 WL 536024, 2014 Mo. App. LEXIS 120, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hirsch-v-convergys-customer-management-group-inc-moctapp-2014.