Hunnicutt v. Texas Employment Commission

949 S.W.2d 52, 1997 Tex. App. LEXIS 3422, 1997 WL 358612
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 30, 1997
DocketNo. 07-95-0326-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 949 S.W.2d 52 (Hunnicutt v. Texas Employment Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hunnicutt v. Texas Employment Commission, 949 S.W.2d 52, 1997 Tex. App. LEXIS 3422, 1997 WL 358612 (Tex. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

DODSON, Justice.

We substitute this opinion in lieu of our opinion in this case dated April 29, 1997.

Fredonia Hunnicutt (Hunnicutt) appeals the trial court’s judgment sustaining the T.E.C.’s order denying her claim for unemployment benefits because of misconduct connected with her last employment at the Coll-ingsworth General Hospital (Hospital). Among other things, Hunnicutt claims the trial court erred by determining there was substantial evidence to support T.E.C.’s order denying her unemployment benefits. Concluding that the evidence fails to show a factual link or nexus between Hunnieutt’s misconduct and her last work, we reverse and render.

The record shows that Hunnicutt’s terminating misconduct occurred on July 1, 1994. [54]*54At that time, Hunnicutt was 52 years old, had worked at the Hospital for approximately 25 years, and was a housekeeping supervisor at the Hospital. Hunnicutt’s misconduct which caused her discharge occurred away from the Hospital premises (i.e., at a private residence), during her off-duty hours, and for matters completely unrelated to her Hospital work.

Hunnicutt’s misconduct occurred at the home of her husband’s paramour. Earlier, on the evening of the occurrence, Hunnicutt was at her own home helping her daughter unpack moving boxes. Her daughter had just returned to Texas from North Carolina. While helping her daughter unpack, Hunni-cutt received an unwelcome phone call from her husband’s paramour. Being upset by the phone call, Hunnicutt proceeded to the paramour’s residence to confront her concerning this latest telephone call and numerous other unwelcome calls to the Hunnicutt’s home. Shortly after Hunnicutt arrived at the paramour’s home, an argument ensued between the two women which eventually erupted into a physical altercation. During the course of this incident, Hunnicutt took a box cutter from a coat pocket and cut her husband’s paramour.

As a result of the altercation, Hunnicutt was charged with, indicted for, and pleaded guilty to aggravated assault. Under a plea bargain, Hunnicutt was placed on deferred-adjudication probation for a period of four years. Shortly after the incident occurred, Hunnicutt reported it to her supervisor at the Hospital. He took no action. After she pleaded guilty, the new hospital administrator (i.e., a different person) informed her that she would be dismissed for her conduct. She was formally dismissed on October 5, 1994 for violation of the Hospital’s employee conduct policy, which states in pertinent part that an employee is subject to discharge for performing malicious acts or destructive acts harmful to persons, or serious breaches of accepted standards of conduct and/or safety.

We agree with Hunnicutt’s first point of error contention that the trial court erred by concluding that substantial evidence supports the T.E.C.’s order denying her benefits. Review of a T.E.C. decision is by a substantial evidence standard. Nuernberg v. Texas Employment Comm’n, 858 S.W.2d 364, 365 (Tex.1993). Whether there is substantial evidence to support the challenged decision is purely a matter of law. Levelland Ind. Sch. Dist. v. Contreras, 865 S.W.2d 474, 478 (Tex.App.—Amarillo 1993, writ denied); Madisonville Sch. Dist. v. Employment Com’n, 821 S.W.2d 310, 314 (Tex.App.—Corpus Christi 1991, writ denied). In this regard, there must be substantial evidence to establish each element of the disqualification rules.

The issue before us in this case is whether Hunnieutt’s conduct that led to her dismissal from the Hospital was conduct that was “connected with her last work” as contemplated in § 207.044(a) of the Texas Labor Code. In support of their position that Hunnicutt’s conduct did fall within the meaning of the statutory language, the T.E.C. and the Hospital rely on Texas Employment Commission v. Ryan, 481 S.W.2d 172 (Tex.Civ.App.—Texarkana 1972, no writ). In Ryan, the employee was discharged after he took an oxygen bottle and its contents from the plant premises of his employer while he was off-duty, in violation of the employer’s policy against purloining company property. We agree with the Ryan court’s disposition because there was a nexus or factual link between Ryan’s misconduct and his work. Nevertheless, we disagree with the Ryan court’s rationale.

The purpose and language of the statute in effect at the time the Ryan case was decided is the same as that found in the statute today. Upon enacting the Unemployment Compensation Act in 1936, the legislature expressly stated that the purpose of the statute is “to provide an orderly system of contributions for the care of the justifiably unemployed ...” Unemployment Compensation Act, 44th Leg., 3rd C.S., ch. 482, § 1, 1936 Tex. Gen. Laws 1993 (emphasis added). Section 207.044(a) of the Texas Labor Code, which governs disqualification for unemployment benefits when an individual is discharged for misconduct, states that the individual is not entitled to benefits if that individual “was discharged for misconduct connected with the individual’s last work.” [55]*55Tex. Lab.Code Ann. § 207.044(a) (Vernon 1996) (emphasis added).

In analyzing the statute quoted above, the Ryan court concluded that “[TJhe language of the statute, in view of its purpose, comprehends more than misconduct in the performance of the work; it requires abstinence from conduct that would justify an employer in discharging an employee." (Emphasis added.) Texas Employment Commission v. Ryan, 481 S.W.2d at 177. In essence, the Ryan court construed the statute to mean that any conduct which justifies an employer in discharging an employee is “conduct connected with the individual’s last work.” We are persuaded this construction unduly limits an employee’s access to unemployment benefits.

Furthermore, it is a well established rule of statutory construction that a statute must be construed to give full effect to all words and phrases contained therein, and that “one provision will not be given a meaning out of harmony or inconsistent with other provisions.” Black v. American Bankers Insurance Company, 478 S.W.2d 434, 437 (Tex.1972). The Ryan court’s construction of the statutory language renders the phrase “connected with the individual’s last work” found in § 207.044(a) virtually meaningless. Therefore, we decline to follow the rationale

Ryan conflicts with the majority of courts across the country who have construed the same statutory language. These courts have generally concluded that although an employer may have sufficient justification for discharging an employee, that justification is not always grounds for denying unemployment benefits to the discharged employee. See, Fitzgerald v. Globe-Union, Inc., 35 Wis.2d 332, 151 N.W.2d 136, 139-40 (1967); Giese v. Employment Division, 27 Or.App. 929, 557 P.2d 1354

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949 S.W.2d 52, 1997 Tex. App. LEXIS 3422, 1997 WL 358612, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hunnicutt-v-texas-employment-commission-texapp-1997.