Sullivan v. Florida Unemployment Appeals Commission

93 So. 3d 1047, 2012 WL 1673258, 2012 Fla. App. LEXIS 7543
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedMay 15, 2012
DocketNo. 1D11-3545
StatusPublished

This text of 93 So. 3d 1047 (Sullivan v. Florida Unemployment Appeals Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sullivan v. Florida Unemployment Appeals Commission, 93 So. 3d 1047, 2012 WL 1673258, 2012 Fla. App. LEXIS 7543 (Fla. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

SWANSON, J.

Jeannie N. Sullivan appeals an order of the Florida Unemployment Appeals Commission affirming the decision of the appeals referee that disqualified Sullivan from receiving unemployment compensation benefits because of the referee’s finding that Sullivan voluntarily resigned her employment as a condition of a workers’ compensation agreement. We reverse.

While working as a supervisor for the employer, SMG Food & Beverage, LLC, Sullivan suffered chest pains and her hands turned blue when one of her “bosses” yelled at her. Paramedics were called and she was transported to the hospital to determine whether she was suffering a cardiac arrest. When Sullivan’s medical bills reached approximately $10,000, and she filed for workers’ compensation benefits, the employer offered her a settlement agreement. Paragraph “N” of the agreement was entitled “VOLUNTARY RESIGNATION FROM EMPLOYMENT,” and contained the following stipulation:

As a result of an irreparable employer/employee relationship, it is stipulated that the Employee/Claimant will voluntarily resign her employment and will not seek re-employment with [the employer].
The agreement to voluntarily resign and not seek re-employment is not being entered into due to any disabilities the Employee/Claimant may allege and is not the sole consideration for settlement of the claim referenced herein. The Employee/Claimant hereby acknowledges that this voluntary resignation of [1048]*1048employment was her decision alone and involved no actions by or on behalf of the Employer/Carrier/Servicing Agent.... The Employee/Claimant’s voluntary resignation from further employment with [the employer] will take place immediately upon her signature, without any further action by any party.

However; because the agreement said nothing about whether she could collect unemployment compensation benefits, Sullivan informed her attorney she would not sign it. Accordingly, her attorney added a handwritten paragraph “0” to the agreement that was initialed by Sullivan and stated: “Employer/Carrier will not contest Claimant’s application or request for unemployment benefits.” As amended, the agreement was signed by Sullivan and her attorney on October 22, 2010, and by the attorney representing the employer on November 5, 2010.

Nevertheless, after Sullivan applied for unemployment benefits, she received a Notice of Determination from the Agency for Workforce Innovation dated November 30, 2010, informing her she was disqualified because her reason for quitting “was personal” and not attributable to the employer. Sullivan appealed the determination. At a hearing held before an appeals referee, the employer did not make an appearance and only Sullivan testified. After the hearing, the referee entered a decision affirming the November 30 determination and finding that because Sullivan had been the “moving party” in the separation, she voluntarily quit. The referee elaborated, finding Sullivan had quit in order to settle a workers’ compensation claim and stated, without citation to any authority: “The courts have consistently held that a claimant who resigns as a provision of a workers’ compensation settlement is not entitled to unemployment benefits.” Accordingly, the referee concluded that Sullivan remained disqualified from the receipt of unemployment benefits. The decision was affirmed by the Unemployment Appeals Commission, which concluded that the record adequately supported' the referee’s findings and her conclusions reasonably applied the law to the facts of the case.

Section 443.101(l)(a), Florida Statutes, disqualifies an individual for unemployment compensation benefits “[f]or the week in which he or she has voluntarily left work without good cause attributable to his or her employing unit[.]” “ ‘Good cause’ is that which ‘would reasonably impel the average able-bodied qualified worker to give up his or her employment.’ ” Antonucci v. Unemployment Appeals Comm’n, 793 So.2d 1116, 1117 (Fla. 4th DCA 2001) (quoting Wall v. Unemployment Appeals Comm’n, 682 So.2d 1187, 1188 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996)). In Lake v. Unemployment Appeals Commission, 931 So.2d 1065 (Fla. 4th DCA 2006), the claimant, as a result of being injured on the job, filed a workers’ compensation claim. The employer offered her light duty work, but the claimant instead opted for a lump sum settlement providing that she would not return to work for the employer. When the claimant sought unemployment benefits, the appeals referee found she had voluntarily quit her employment in order to accept the settlement. The Unemployment Appeals Commission affirmed. On appeal, the Fourth District affirmed the denial of benefits, applying the analysis utilized in Matter of Astrom, 362 So.2d 312 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978), to conclude the claimant had “left her employment voluntarily, when she agreed to the settlement which terminated her employment!.]” Id. at 1066.

In the present appeal, the Unemployment Appeals Commission likewise relies on Matter of Astrom, and cases like it [1049]*1049wherein the unemployment claimants were given the option of taking early retirement in light of looming job cuts or company reorganizations. In Astrom, the claimants were advised of the employer’s decision to move the company’s maintenance base to New York, and were given the choice of early retirement and increased retirement benefits, or continuing employment until an undetermined future date. Several claimants who had elected early retirement and filed for unemployment benefits, were held to be disqualified. On appeal, the Third District affirmed the Commission’s decision. In contrasting the case before it to one wherein “mandatory retirement as of a definite date is tantamount to discharge,” id. at 315, the Third District considered the question in the case before it as “one of anticipatory discharge,” id., and accordingly concluded the claimants had voluntarily left their employment without good cause attributable to the employer.

Similarly, in Calle v. Unemployment Appeals Commission, 692 So.2d 961 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997), also cited by the Commission, the employer offered an early retirement package to employees over fifty years of age. Because the claimant’s department was scheduled to close down at an undetermined future date, the employer encouraged the claimant to take advantage of the package. The claimant did so and filed for unemployment benefits. The Unemployment Appeals Commission upheld the appeals referee’s conclusion that the claimant’s acceptance of the early retirement package was a voluntary abandonment of her employment. In affirming, the Fourth District noted “[t]he record reflects no employer conduct that can be deemed to have wrongfully caused [the claimant] to retire.” Id. at 961. Citing to Astrom, the Fourth District further held, “[rjather, [the claimant] simply had a good reason to voluntarily accept an early retirement opportunity.” Id.

However, in Rodriguez v. Florida Unemployment Appeals Commission, 851 So.2d 247 (Fla. 3d DCA 2003), the Third District reversed the denial of unemployment benefits to a claimant who had signed the employer’s buyout agreement offered in anticipation of pending budget cuts and left her employment. There was no evidence that the claimant’s position would have been terminated had she not accepted the buyout, but the agreement stated “the buyout would not interfere with applications for unemployment and those who accepted the buyout would acquire layoff status.” Id. at 248.

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Related

Wall v. Unemployment Appeals Com'n
682 So. 2d 1187 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1996)
Matter of Astrom
362 So. 2d 312 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1978)
Martell v. State of Florida Unemployment Appeals Commission
654 So. 2d 1203 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1995)
Calle v. Unemployment Appeals Commission & United Parcel Service, Inc.
692 So. 2d 961 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1997)
Antonucci v. State
793 So. 2d 1116 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2001)
Rodriguez v. Florida Unemployment Appeals Commission
851 So. 2d 247 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2003)
Lake v. State, Unemployment Appeals Commission
931 So. 2d 1065 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2006)

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Bluebook (online)
93 So. 3d 1047, 2012 WL 1673258, 2012 Fla. App. LEXIS 7543, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sullivan-v-florida-unemployment-appeals-commission-fladistctapp-2012.