Wiley v. Dolphin Staffing-Dolphin Clerical Group

825 N.W.2d 121, 2012 WL 5476134, 2012 Minn. App. LEXIS 127
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedNovember 13, 2012
DocketNo. A12-0383
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 825 N.W.2d 121 (Wiley v. Dolphin Staffing-Dolphin Clerical Group) 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
Wiley v. Dolphin Staffing-Dolphin Clerical Group, 825 N.W.2d 121, 2012 WL 5476134, 2012 Minn. App. LEXIS 127 (Mich. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

OPINION

HALBROOKS, Judge.

Relator Ulanda Wiley challenges the decision of an unemployment-law judge (ULJ) that she is ineligible to receive unemployment benefits, arguing that she meets the exception to benefit ineligibility under Minn.Stat. § 268.095, subd. 1(3). We reverse the ULJ’s determination that Wiley did not quit her position within 30 days of beginning employment. Because the ULJ did not determine whether Wiley quit because her temporary position was unsuitable, we remand for further proceedings.

FACTS

On August 9, 2011, Wiley began working for respondent Dolphin Staffing, Inc., a temporary staffing service. She was assigned to a six-week project as an insurance billing associate at Medtox. On September 8 — her 30th day with Dolphin1— Wiley gave two weeks’ notice of quitting. [123]*123Her last day of scheduled employment was September 23.

Dolphin administers an attendance policy that requires supervisor approval and one week’s notice for all absences. An absence is unexcused if it fails to meet these criteria. It is also company policy to “verbally counsel” an employee after the third and fourth attendance violations and to terminate an employee after the fifth violation occurring within a rolling six-month period.

During her time at Dolphin, Wiley accumulated several unexcused absences. On August 31, Wiley left work early because she was sick. On September 1, Wiley had an approved partial absence to take one of her children to the doctor for a school-required physical. But Wiley did not show up to work that day. On September 6, Wiley notified Dolphin that she would be late to work the next day because she had to attend a last-minute conference at her daughter’s school. Dolphin employee Amanda Cooper reprimanded Wiley and warned that any future absences would require Wiley to sign a written warning. Wiley accrued two unexcused absences the following day: first, when she arrived late after the school conference and, second, when she left work early to respond to an urgent call from her childcare provider, which resulted in Wiley taking her infant to the emergency room. That day, Wiley left a voice-mail message for Dolphin, indicating she would not sign a written warning.

On September 8, Dolphin employee Cara Schwartz telephoned Wiley to report that Medtox wanted her to work an additional month. Wiley explained that she did not think that she could commit to an additional month because family obligations as a single parent were keeping her from working a consistent schedule. When Schwartz asked whether Wiley could commit to two weeks’ notice and finish on September 23, Wiley said that she could.2

On September 13, Wiley tried to contact Cooper to discuss withdrawing her decision to quit. When Wiley was unable to reach Cooper, she e-mailed two other Dolphin representatives, asking to continue her employment with an accommodation to the attendance policy. The next day, Cooper telephoned Wiley and reiterated the attendance policy; she finished the conversation by referring Wiley to the human-resources department. On September 20, Wiley sent an e-mail to Cooper, explaining that a human-resources representative reiterated the attendance policy and told her that any further time off would be unexcused. Wiley also inquired about her request to withdraw her notice, to which Dolphin had not responded. Later that day, Cooper confirmed with Wiley that her notice had been accepted and that her last day of work would be September 23. On September 22, Wiley notified Dolphin that she would miss her last two days of work because two of her children were sick.

After leaving Dolphin, Wiley applied for unemployment benefits with respondent Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). DEED determined that Wiley is ineligible for benefits. Wiley appealed. After an evidentiary hearing, the ULJ affirmed DEED’S determination, concluding that Wiley quit her employment with Dolphin and did not qualify for benefits under (1) the good-reason-caused-by-an-employer exception, (2) the 30-day unsuitability ex[124]*124ception, or (8) the loss-of-childcare exception. The ULJ affirmed the decision upon reconsideration. This certiorari appeal follows.

ISSUE

Did the ULJ err in determining that Wiley did not quit unsuitable employment within 30 days of beginning that employment?

ANALYSIS

When reviewing the decision of a ULJ, we may affirm the decision, remand the case for further proceedings, or reverse or modify the decision if substantial rights have been prejudiced because the findings, inferences, conclusions, or decision are affected by an error of law or are unsupported by substantial evidence in the entire record. Minn.Stat. § 268.105, subd. 7(d)(4)-(5) (2010). We view factual findings in the light most favorable to the decision and defer to the ULJ on credibility determinations. Skarhus v. Davanni’s Inc., 721 N.W.2d 340, 344 (Minn.App.2006).

Wiley argues that she is eligible for unemployment benefits because she quit unsuitable employment within 30 days of her start date. A quit from employment generally disqualifies an applicant from receiving unemployment benefits unless one of ten statutory exceptions applies. Minn. Stat. § 268.095, subd. 1 (2010). One of the exceptions addresses benefit eligibility when “the applicant quit the employment within 30 calendar days of beginning the employment because the employment was unsuitable for the applicant.” Id., subd. 1(3).

We first address the issue of the date that Wiley quit. Minn.Stat. § 268.095, subd. 2(c) (2010), provides that an employee who seeks to withdraw a previously submitted notice of quitting is considered to have quit if the employer refuses to allow withdrawal of notice. While the statute furnishes substantive definitions of what conduct constitutes a quit, it does not define when that quit occurs — upon notice, when withdrawal of notice is refused, or on the last day of employment.

The ULJ found that Wiley quit after 30 days of her start date. Wiley argues that she quit on September 8, the day that she gave two weeks’ notice of quitting. September 8 is within the 30-day period. But DEED contends that Wiley quit on her last day of scheduled work, September 23, a date beyond 30 days. In so arguing, DEED favors a construction of Minn.Stat. § 268.095, subd. 2, in which a quit is interpreted as occurring on the last day of employment.

This court reviews matters of statutory construction de novo. Lee v. Fresenius Med. Care, Inc., 741 N.W.2d 117, 122 (Minn.2007). “The object of all interpretation and construction of laws is to ascertain and effectuate the intention of the legislature.” Minn.Stat. § 645.16 (2010). If the meaning of a statute is unambiguous, we interpret the statutory text according to its plain language. Brua v. Minn. Joint Underwriting Ass’n, 778 N.W.2d 294, 300 (Minn.2010). When a statute is ambiguous, we apply other canons of construction to discern the legislature’s intent. Id. A statute is ambiguous when the language therein is subject to more than one reasonable interpretation. Am. Family Ins. Grp. v. Schroedl,

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825 N.W.2d 121, 2012 WL 5476134, 2012 Minn. App. LEXIS 127, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wiley-v-dolphin-staffing-dolphin-clerical-group-minnctapp-2012.