Plunkett v. Administrator, Louisiana Office of Employment Security

504 So. 2d 106, 1987 La. App. LEXIS 8770
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 25, 1987
DocketNo. 18439-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 504 So. 2d 106 (Plunkett v. Administrator, Louisiana Office of Employment Security) 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
Plunkett v. Administrator, Louisiana Office of Employment Security, 504 So. 2d 106, 1987 La. App. LEXIS 8770 (La. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

JASPER E. JONES, Judge.

This is an appeal of a trial court judgment affirming a decision by the Board of Review disqualifying Murl Plunkett, the claimant-appellant, from receiving unemployment benefits. The defendants-appel-lees are the Administrator of the Louisiana Office of Employment Security and the appellant’s former employer, Independent Mud Logging.

FACTS

The appellant was hired by Independent Mud Logging to do oil field work as a mud logger but voluntarily quit less than one month later in order to accept other employment. He subsequently applied for unemployment benefits. The Office of Employment Security determined he did not leave his mud logging job for any good cause connected with such employment and disqualified him from receiving benefits. The appellant challenged this determination and the appeals referee and the Board of Review subsequently upheld the disqualification. The appellant applied for judicial review of the decision of the Board of Review and the trial court affirmed.

The appellant’s two assignments of error present the following issues for decision:

1. Can the appellant be deemed to have “left” his employment when he does so due to the nonavailability of work assignments?
2. Can the appellant be deemed to have left his employment without “good cause” considering his irregular work assignments, his problems with transportation to an out of state job assignment and his favorable prospects for acquiring employment in his customary occupation closer to home?

LAW ON THE DISQUALIFICATION FOR UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS RESULTING FROM THE VOLUNTARY RESIGNATION OF EMPLOYMENT

An individual shall be disqualified for benefits if the administrator finds he has left his employment from a base period or subsequent employer without good cause connected with his employment. LSA-R.S. 23:1601a).1

The word “left” in LSA-R.S. 23:1601(1) is intended to cover those situations where an employee quits, or voluntarily leaves or resigns his employment. Piggly Wiggly Of Springhill, Inc. v. Gerace, 370 So.2d 1327 (La.App. 2d Cir.1979). Where the claimant’s leaving his employment is not a factual issue, the issue of “leaving” and meaning of the term “left” become purely legal matters since they involve the interpretation of law. Shoennagel v. Louisiana Office of Employment, 413 So.2d 652 (La.App. 1st Cir.1982).

The term “good cause” has been defined as a cause connected with working conditions which affects the employee’s ability to continue work or the benefits the employee may receive from his employer either upon continuation of work or retirement. Mere dissatisfaction with working conditions does not constitute “good cause” unless the dissatisfaction is based upon a substantial change in wages or working conditions from those in force at the time the claimant’s position began. Nason v. Louisiana Dept. of Employment Sec., 475 So.2d 85 (La.App. 2d Cir.1985), writ den., 478 So.2d 149 (La.1985).

Judicial review of the decisions of the Board of Review is limited and the findings of the Board as to facts and credibility, if supported by sufficient evidence and in the absence of fraud, shall be conclusive, and the jurisdiction of the court shall be confined to questions of law. LSA-R.S. [109]*10923:1634;2 Carter v. Blache, 476 So.2d 873 (La.App. 2d Cir.1985).

Issue #1 — Did the appellant “leave” his employment?

Appellant argues that he cannot be deemed to have “left” his mud logging job as when he returned from Mississippi he was informed by his supervisor that there was no work assignment available and that “possibly” he could remain on the payroll. The appellant asserts this state of affairs, in effect, amounted to him being laid off and it was only then that he sought other employment.

The record shows that when the appellant appealed the initial determination of disqualification he gave the following reasons for his actions:

“On the job I was working I was already informed that I would be bumped off this job because of seniority of logger that was to replace me. His job was finished so he was to be sent to job I was on. I was then to be sent to Miss, to relieve logger there for two weeks. I requested to stay on job a few more days because I needed to make arrangements for transportation for my wife. I was layed [sic] off until arrangements were made. I was then told the man I was to replace in Miss, wanted to stay longer. I was off 1 week before I was supposed to go to Miss. While off I found work with ACE Electric & part-time with Suni-Lab Petro. Services, Quitman, LA.”

At the hearing on the appeal the appellant testified he quit his mud logging job voluntarily. When asked directly whether he had been laid off upon his return from Mississippi the appellant testified as follows:

REFEREE: When you come back from Mississippi, were you laid off?
CLAIMANT: Well, I say, he said he didn’t know where I was going to be.
He didn’t know if he had any work or not, because two jobs had just went down.
REFEREE: He had a job in Mississippi for you though?
CLAIMANT: For two weeks.

The appellant testified he quit his job when he found comparable work close to home:

REFEREE: I want to know what you told the fellow, when you told him, you were quitting, first, Mr. Plunkett?
CLAIMANT: Oh. Oh, I told him, I had decided to go ahead and quit, because I had found work on the weekend. That a forty hour a week job, during the week, and that I, after I, when I was getting off that job, he hadn’t promised me any work at all.
REFEREE: So you had found other, another job?
CLAIMANT: Yes, sir. I found work with a mud logging company here in Whitman (phon.) on the weekend, and then, I was working with an electrician, during the week.
REFEREE: Both jobs were there at home?
CLAIMANT: They were close. Yes, sir. Well, working in Ruston with the electrician, and in (inaudible) and around the Ruston area with mud logging.
REFEREE: And these other jobs, you made more money?
CLAIMANT: About the same.
REFEREE: You made about the same money working 7 days a week, with them that you were making with Mr. Hudson?
CLAIMANT: Yes, sir.

Ms. Wanda Hudson, Vice-President of Independent Mud Logging, testified that when the appellant quit he was still on the pay[110]*110roll and that the only job in progress was the one in Mississippi.

We conclude the appellant “left” his employment within the meaning of LSA-R.S. 23:1601(1). The appellant testified he voluntarily quit his mud logging job and, as such, the issue devolves to a legal interpretation of the term “left.” Shoennagel v. Louisiana Office Of Employment, supra.

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Related

Carpenter v. Administrator, Dept. of Employment Security
546 So. 2d 287 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1989)
Bonds v. Whitfield
529 So. 2d 1384 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1988)
Banks v. Elledge
535 So. 2d 808 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1988)

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504 So. 2d 106, 1987 La. App. LEXIS 8770, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/plunkett-v-administrator-louisiana-office-of-employment-security-lactapp-1987.