Pette v. State ex rel. Department of Employment

968 P.2d 952, 1998 Wyo. LEXIS 178, 1998 WL 857860
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 14, 1998
DocketNo. 98-8
StatusPublished

This text of 968 P.2d 952 (Pette v. State ex rel. Department of Employment) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wyoming Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pette v. State ex rel. Department of Employment, 968 P.2d 952, 1998 Wyo. LEXIS 178, 1998 WL 857860 (Wyo. 1998).

Opinion

MACY, Justice.

Appellant Wendy Pette appealed to the district court from the denial of her claim for unemployment insurance benefits. The district court certified the case to the Wyoming Supreme Court pursuant to W.R.A.P. 12.09(b).

We reverse and remand.

ISSUES

Pette presents two issues for our consideration:

I. Whether Decision of Commission!] No. C-6401-97, holding that Ms. Pette is disqualified from receiving unemployment compensation benefits, because she voluntarily left her most recent work without good cause and not for a bona fide medical reason, is supported by substantial evidence?
II. Whether Ms. Pette is eligible for unemployment compensation benefits, because Decision of Commission No. C-6401-97!] is arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion or contrary to law, based upon the commission’s failure to apply its own precedent decisions, as required by Wyoming Statute § 27-3-406(b)?

FACTS

Pette was employed by Appellee Tourism Promotion Joint Powers Board (the tourism board) as a convention sales manager. Her job duties included marketing the City of [954]*954Cheyenne to various groups to encourage them to schedule their conventions, meetings, and conferences in Cheyenne. Pette was required to make numerous sales calls to these groups to fulfill the duties of her position.

In the summer of 1996, the tourism board hired a new executive director. In late December 1996 or early January 1997, the executive director reviewed Pette’s work performance. The executive director criticized Pette’s time management skills and her general attitude. Pette was directed to increase the number of sales calls she made per week from 50 to 150 and to reduce the time she spent on each call. As a result of the poor job performance review, Pette sensed that her job was in jeopardy.

Pette complained to the tourism board and the executive director that the quota of 150 sales calls per week was unreasonable; consequently, they reduced the quota to 100 sales calls per week. In February 1997, the executive director reviewed Pette’s job performance for a second time. Pette had not met the sales call quota, and the executive director told her that, if she did not meet the goal by the end of March 1997, termination of her employment was a possibility.

On March 20, 1997, Pette submitted a resignation letter to the executive director and the tourism board. Her letter stated in relevant part:

After careful consideration, it is with regret that I submit my resignation as Convention Sales Manager. I have reached this decision primarily due to the recent mandate to increase sales call quotas. I have worked hard since January to meet the new requirements. The results have shown an increase in sales call productivity to an average [of] 79 calls weekly and a considerable rise in tentative group bookings. However, this growth apparently is not enough, for it falls short of the 100 calls which you have directed. It is my firm belief that quality of work is being jeopardized in favor of quantity. The demand to produce at such a rate has been so stressful that I can no longer continue to work under this pressure on a day to day basis.
Understanding fully the importance of a smooth transition and continued momentum in this position, I will stay until April 25,1997. After this date, I am offering my services on a weekly basis with the understanding that a one week notice of termination [will] be given by either party.

The tourism board’s personnel committee met the next day. At four o’clock in the afternoon of March 21, 1997, the executive director informed Pette that her resignation was accepted, effective that day, and that she had one hour in which to vacate the premises.

Pette subsequently filed a claim for unemployment insurance benefits. A claims deputy for the employment resources division determined that Pette was not qualified to receive unemployment insurance benefits because she voluntarily left her employment without having good cause which was directly attributable to her employment or a bona fide medical reason. Pette appealed from the deputy’s decision. The chief appeals examiner for the unemployment insurance division held a contested case hearing on June 10, 1997. The examiner reversed the deputy’s determination and awarded unemployment insurance benefits to Pette. The tourism board appealed from the examiner’s decision to Appellee Department of Employment, Unemployment Insurance Commission (the commission). On August 12, 1997, the commission reversed the examiner’s decision and denied Pette’s request for benefits.

Pette petitioned the district court for a review of the commission’s decision. The district court certified the case to the Wyoming Supreme Court.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

When a case has been certified to the Wyoming Supreme Court pursuant to W.R.A.P. 12.09(b), we review the case by applying the appellate standards which are applicable to a reviewing court of the first instance. Weaver v. Cost Cutters, 953 P.2d 851, 854 (Wyo.1998). W.R.A.P. 12.09(a) limits judicial review of administrative decisions to a determination of the matters specified in [955]*955Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 16-3-114(c) (Michie 1997). Everheart v. S & L Industrial, 957 P.2d 847, 851 (Wyo.1998). Under § 16-3-114(c)(ii), the reviewing court may reverse an agency’s action if that action was arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with the law. State ex rel. Wyoming Workers’ Safety and Compensation Division v. Bruhn, 951 P.2d 373, 376 (Wyo.1997).

We will not disturb an agency’s findings of fact unless they are clearly contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence. Weaver, 953 P.2d at 855. We do not, however, grant the same deference to an agency’s conclusions of law. Nelson v. Sheridan Manor, 939 P.2d 252, 255 (Wyo.1997). We affirm an agency’s conclusions of law when they are in accordance with the law. Corman v. State ex rel. Wyoming Workers’ Compensation Division, 909 P.2d 966, 970 (Wyo.1996). When an agency has not invoked and properly applied the correct rule of law, we correct the agency’s errors. Gneiting v. State ex rel. Wyoming Workers’ Compensation Division, 897 P.2d 1306, 1308 (Wyo.1995).

DISCUSSION

We will initially consider Pette’s second issue because our resolution of that issue is dispositive in this case. The commission determined that, although the tourism board unilaterally changed Pette’s separation date from the April 25, 1997, date set out in her resignation letter to March 21, 1997, Pette voluntarily left her employment without having good cause and that she was not, therefore, entitled to receive unemployment insurance benefits. The commission relied upon Wyo. Stat. Ann.

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Related

Nelson v. Sheridan Manor
939 P.2d 252 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1997)
Corman v. State Ex Rel. Wyoming Workers' Compensation Division
909 P.2d 966 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1996)
Everheart v. S & L Industrial
957 P.2d 847 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1998)
Lyles v. State Ex Rel. Division of Workers' Compensation
957 P.2d 843 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1998)
Weaver v. Cost Cutters
953 P.2d 851 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1998)

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968 P.2d 952, 1998 Wyo. LEXIS 178, 1998 WL 857860, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pette-v-state-ex-rel-department-of-employment-wyo-1998.