Ruzynski v. Cub Foods, Inc.

378 N.W.2d 660, 1985 Minn. App. LEXIS 4856
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedDecember 31, 1985
DocketC5-85-1681
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 378 N.W.2d 660 (Ruzynski v. Cub Foods, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ruzynski v. Cub Foods, Inc., 378 N.W.2d 660, 1985 Minn. App. LEXIS 4856 (Mich. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinion

OPINION

FORSBERG, Judge.

George Ruzynski appeals by writ of cer-tiorari from a determination that he was discharged for misconduct. We affirm.

*661 FACTS

Relator, George Ruzynski, was employed from November 1978 until April 29,1985 as a meat cutter for Cub Foods. Sometime in January 1985, Ruzynski punched out for a 10 minute break, left the store for approximately 50 minutes, and did not punch in or bring the matter to the attention of a manager. Upon discovery of the January incident, Ruzynski was suspended for two weeks. Prior to his suspension, the personnel manager for Cub, the store manager, and a union representative met with Ruz-ynski to discuss Cub’s rules regarding time card violations. Ruzynski was informed that any times on his card which were written in rather than punched were required to be approved by the manager on duty, and that failure to follow Cub’s rules would be grounds for his termination.

On Saturday, April 27, 1985, Ruzynski informed the grocery manager that he would be leaving at 10:00 P.M., rather than 10:30 P.M. as scheduled. Later that evening, the grocery manager heard a page for customer assistance in the meat department. At approximately 9:45 P.M. he heard another page, and went to the meat department, where he was unable to locate Ruzynski. Upon checking Ruzynski’s time card at approximately 9:50 P.M., he discovered that several times had been crossed out and that Ruzynski had signed himself out for 10:00 P.M. The time was written in rather than punched, and was not initialed by a manager.

The following day Ruzynski informed his manager that he had written in his time of departure on Saturday without having it initialed by a manager on duty. Ruzyn-ski’s manager had not been in the store on Saturday evening and did not personally know when Ruzynski had left.

Ruzynski was suspended and later discharged for violation of Cub’s time card policy and falsification of his time of departure on Saturday, April 27. He applied for unemployment compensation, and a claims deputy denied him benefits, concluding that he had been discharged for misconduct. Ruzynski appealed to a referee, who reversed the claims deputy’s decision. The referee found that Ruzynski had not heard the page but had been in the store until 10:00 P.M. and had not falsified his time of departure.

Cub appealed, and a Commissioner’s representative reversed, determining that Ruz-ynski had violated Cub’s time card policy by writing in his time of departure without obtaining a manager’s approval, and that Ruzynski had also deliberately falsified his time card. The Commissioner’s representative also found that in 1979 Ruzynski had received a copy of Cub’s handbook containing store rules and procedures. That handbook, which Cub submitted into evidence, stated:

F. Never mark or punch another employees (sic) time card or falsify your own. If this occurs it may be grounds for immediate dismissal.
G. Any write-in times must be written in and approved by the manager or acting manager at the time they occur or are first noticed.

Ruzynski seeks review of the Commissioner’s decision.

ISSUES

1. Does the record support the determination by the Commissioner’s representative that Ruzynski falsified his time card?

2. Does the record support the determination by the Commissioner’s representative that Ruzynski knowingly violated Cub’s time card policy?

ANALYSIS

An individual who is discharged for misconduct is disqualified from receiving unemployment compensation benefits. Minn.Stat. § 268.09, subd. 1(2) (1984).

“Misconduct” has been defined as:

[C]onduct evincing such wilful or wanton disregard of an employer’s interests as is found in deliberate violations or disregard of standards of behavior which the employer has the right to expect of his employee, or in carelessness or negligence of such degree or recurrence as to *662 manifest equal culpability, wrongful intent or evil design, or to show an intentional and substantial disregard of the employer’s interests or of the employee’s duties and obligations to his employer. On the other hand mere inefficiency, unsatisfactory conduct, failure in good performance as the result of inability or incapacity, inadvertencies or ordinary negligence in isolated instances, or good-faith errors in judgment or discretion are not to be deemed “misconduct”.
* * * * ⅝ *

Tilseth v. Midwest Lumber Co., 295 Minn. 372, 374-75, 204 N.W.2d 644, 646 (1973). An employer must establish by a preponderance of the evidence that an employee was discharged for misconduct. Lumpkin v. North Central Airlines, Inc., 296 Minn. 456, 459-60, 209 N.W.2d 397, 400 (1973).

The scope of appellate review in unemployment compensation cases is limited. The evidence must be viewed in the light most favorable to the Commissioner’s findings, White v. Metropolitan Medical Center, 332 N.W.2d 25, 26 (Minn.1983), and the only question for this court is whether the record contains evidence sufficient to sustain those findings. Id. Factual disputes are to be resolved by the Commissioner, Nyberg v. R.N. Cardozo & Brother, Inc., 243 Minn. 361, 364, 67 N.W.2d 821, 823 (1954), and this court cannot reweigh the evidence to determine where the preponderance lies. Id.

I.

The referee determined that Ruzyn-ski had signed out at 10:00 P.M.; however, the Commissioner’s representative reversed this finding and determined that Ruzynski had left earlier than 10:00 P.M. and had falsified his time card. The decision of the Commissioner’s representative, rather than that of the referee, must be reviewed by this court. Winkler v. Park Refuse Service, Inc., 361 N.W.2d 120, 123 (Minn.Ct.App.1985).

While although the testimony at the hearing was conflicting, there is ample evidence in the record to support the Commissioner’s determination. Ruzysnki testified unequivocally that he did not sign himself out earlier than 10:00 P.M.; yet the store manager testified that he checked Ruzyn-ski’s time card at 9:50 P.M. and saw that he was already signed out for 10:00 P.M. The manager also testified that he checked the entire meat department and then worked there (approximately five feet from the ti-meclock) until 10:05 without seeing Ruzyn-ski. Although there was evidence that Ruzynski spoke with another Cub employee at 9:40 or 9:45 P.M., this does not contradict the manager’s testimony that Ruzynski was gone at 9:50 P.M.

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Bluebook (online)
378 N.W.2d 660, 1985 Minn. App. LEXIS 4856, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ruzynski-v-cub-foods-inc-minnctapp-1985.