GREGORY E. MOORE, APPELLANT,
v.
UNEMPLOYMENT APPEALS COMMISSION, ET AL., APPELLEES

Fla. 5th DCA | 1997-03-27
No. 96-1062
GOSHORN and GRIFFIN, JJ., concur.
689 So. 2d 1304 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (1997)

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

Gregory Moore appealed a decision denying unemployment compensation benefits based on his termination for excessive tardiness and absenteeism. The appeals referee initially awarded benefits, but the Unemployment Appeals Commission reversed. The court vacated and remanded because the referee failed to require the employer to substantiate its attendance summary with time sheets during the hearing, then improperly relied on hearsay in his written conclusions.


Holding

The court vacated the UAC's decision and remanded for a new hearing. The referee's internal contradiction—refusing to require time sheet substantiation at the hearing but then relying on that absence of substantiation to reject the employer's evidence as hearsay—constituted reversible error requiring a new hearing where the employer may present time sheets to document the termination basis.


Headnotes

[1] An appeals referee's written conclusions of law may be based on evidence that was not formally admitted or reviewed during the hearing if the referee overlooked the need…

[2] Hearsay evidence alone is insufficient to support a finding of fact unless it would be admissible over objection in civil actions.

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Key Quotes

“The summary of the claimant's attendance submitted by the employer was not substantiated by time sheets. Therefore the days listed on the summary as late and absent that were not admitted by the claimant carry the weight of hearsay evidence.”

The referee's written conclusion rejecting the employer's attendance summary as unsubstantiated hearsay, despite having declined to require substantiation at the hearing itself.

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Facts & Procedural History

Moore was terminated by his employer for excessive tardiness and absenteeism. The employer presented a summary of dates Moore was late or absent. Duri…

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Opinion of the Court
PETERSON, Chief Judge.

PETERSON, Chief Judge.

Gregory E. Moore appeals an order of the Unemployment Appeals Commission (UAC) finding that he was not entitled to unemployment compensation benefits. In doing so, the UAC reversed the decision of the appeals referee awarding benefits to Moore. We vacate the order and remand for a new hearing before the appeals referee.

The issue before the appeals referee was whether the employer was justified in terminating Moore because of excessive tar diness and absenteeism. At the hearing before the referee the employer presented a summary of the dates Moore was late to or absent from work. This exchange took place:

Referee: Alright. So if Mr. Moore disagrees with any of these that he was — any of these days that he was — that this says he was absent or late, could you then show me in your daily log if he was absent or late.

Employer: Yes, sir, I can show you that and I can, you know, if we need to, we can go back to the time sheets.

Referee: Well, I don’t want to do it if we don’t have to, Stewart, okay? It just takes extra time. I’m going to show employer’s exhibit, no. 1 to Mr. Moore.

However, in the referee’s written conclusions of law, the following appears:

The summary of the claimant’s attendance submitted by the employer was not substantiated by time sheets. Therefore the days listed on the summary as late and absent that were not admitted by the claimant carry the weight of hearsay evidence. Hearsay evidence may be used for the purpose of supplementing or explaining other evidence, but it is not sufficient in itself to support a finding of fact unless it would be admissible over objection in civil actions. Section 120.58, Florida Statutes; Florida Administrative Code Rule 38E-5.024(3)(d). Therefore it has not been shown by a preponderance of evidence that claimant willfully or wantonly pursued a course of conduct in violation of his duties and obligations to the employer. Accordingly it is held his discharge was for reasons other than misconduct connected with work.

(Emphasis added).

Perhaps when he prepared his conclusions of law, the appeals referee overlooked his rejection of the need to review time sheets in order to substantiate the summary prepared by the employer. The oversight became critical when he prepared his conclusions of law after the hearing and when the employer’s original time sheets were no longer available to him. Fairness dictates that this error be rectified by holding a new hearing during which the employer may furnish the time sheets in an attempt to document the basis for terminating Moore’s employment.

In Tallahassee Housing Authority v. Florida Unemployment Appeals Commission, 483 So. 2d 413, 414 (Fla.1986), our supreme court held that a finding of misconduct is justified “when an employer presents substantial competent evidence of an employee’s excessive, unauthorized absenteeism” and that “[o]nce successive unauthorized absenteeism is established, the burden is on the employee to rebut the presumption that his absenteeism can be characterized as ‘misconduct’ within the meaning of the statute.” The Tallahassee Housing Authority court also found that a summary of the employee’s attendance record was improperly admitted because appropriate notice of its intended use was not provided to the opposing party. On remand, the employer may offer a summary of Moore’s absenteeism and tardiness in an attempt to document the basis for terminating Moore’s employment, but the use of such a summary should comport with the notice requirements of section 90.956, Florida Statutes (1995) and Tallahassee Housing Authority.

ORDER VACATED; REMANDED.

GOSHORN and GRIFFIN, JJ., concur.


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