LEIDA TABARES, APPELLANT,
v.
FLORIDA UNEMPLOYMENT APPEALS ETC., ET AL., APPELLEES
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Leida Tabares was discharged from her job as a deli associate for raising her voice to a co-manager during a disciplinary meeting. The Florida Unemployment Appeals Commission denied her unemployment benefits, finding misconduct. The court reversed, holding that a single incident of loss of self-control does not constitute misconduct under Florida unemployment law.
A single incident of loss of self-control does not constitute misconduct connected with work under Florida law. Although the employer was justified in discharging the claimant, the claimant is entitled to unemployment benefits because her actions did not rise to the level of misconduct required for disqualification.
[1] An unemployment appeals commission may not modify the facts found by a referee to reach a different conclusion of law.
[2] Unemployment compensation statutes are to be liberally construed in favor of the employee.
Previewing 2 of 4 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“"Misconduct" is defined as "[c]on-duct evincing such willful or wanton disregard of an employer's interests as is found in deliberate violation or disregard of standards of behavior which the employer has [*1216] the right.to expect of his or her employee."”
Establishes the statutory definition of misconduct under Florida law that must be shown to disqualify a claimant from unemployment benefits.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceTabares worked as a deli associate at Winn Dixie for approximately five years. Following an incident involving Tabares, the deli supervisor, and deli …
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GODERICH, Judge.
The claimant, Leida Tabares, appeals from an order of the Florida Unemployment Appeals Commission [UAC] upholding the appeals referee’s denial of unemployment compensation benefits. We reverse.
The claimant worked as a deli associate at a Winn Dixie Store for approximately five years. As a result of an incident between the claimant, the deli supervisor, and the deli manager, the co-manager of the store called the three employees into his office. During the meeting, the claimant started to raise her voice and told the co-manager that he “was trying to get her.” The co-manager asked her to not raise her voice, but the claimant continued to do so. The claimant was then discharged by the co-manager. The claims examiner found that the claimant was eligible for unemployment benefits. Thereafter, the appeals referee reversed finding that the claimant was discharged for misconduct connected with work because she began to raise her voice and speak loudly with the co-manager and she continued to talk to the co-manager in the same manner after she was told to lower her voice. The UAC affirmed the decision of the appeals referee. This appeal followed.
The claimant contends that her actions do not constitute misconduct connected with work, and that she is, therefore, entitled to unemployment benefits. We agree.
“Misconduct” is defined as “[c]on-duct evincing such willful or wanton disregard of an employer’s interests as is found in deliberate violation or disregard of standards of behavior which the employer has the right.to expect of his or her employee.” § 443.036(29)(a), Fla. Stat. (2001). “In determining whether misconduct has occurred which would disqualify a claimant from receiving unemployment benefits, the statute should be liberally construed in favor of the claimant.” Donnell v. University Community Hosp., 705 So. 2d 1031, 1032 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998); see § 443.031, Fla. Stat. (2001); Jorge v. Florida Unemployment Appeals Comm’n, 765 So. 2d 889, 890 (Fla. 3d DCA 2000).
This case is factually similar to Cullen v. Neighborly Senior Servs., Inc., 775 So. 2d 392, 393 (Fla. 2d DCA 2000), wherein the court stated that “a single incident of loss of self-control or poor judgment does not constitute misconduct.” In Cullen, the claimant raised his voice during a meeting between the claimant and his supervisor. The meeting took place in the supervisor’s private office in front of two other employees. Moreover, the claimant left the office while the supervisor was still speaking.
In the present case, the claimant raised her voice during a meeting which took place between the claimant, the co-manager, and two other employees, in the co-manager’s private office. Therefore, as in Cullen, although the employer was justified in discharging the claimant, we find that the claimant’s “single incident of loss of self-control” did not constitute misconduct connected with work. As such, we reverse the denial of unemployment compensation benefits.
Reversed.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Lewis v. Unemployment Appeals Comm'n & B. Whitmore & Co., Inc., 899 So. 2d 1183 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005)…single incident of loss of self-control and not misconduct which would disqualify the claimant from receiving unemployment benefits. Id. Under circumstances similar to those in Cullen, the Third District in Tabares v. Florida Unemployment Appeals, 838 So. 2d 1214 (Fla. 3d DCA 2003), also reversed a UAC order affirming the denial of benefits. During a meeting with a supervisor, a manager, and a comanager, the claimant in Tabares began to raise her voice and speak loudly with the comanager. After the claimant…
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Garcia v. Wolf IN the Woods, Inc., 37 So. 3d 313 (Fla. 3d DCA 2010)…t failure to follow employer’s policy followed by argument with supervisor did not constitute miscon [*315] duct disqualifying claimant from unemployment benefits where claimant had been good employee); see also Tobares v. Fla. Unemployment Appeals, 838 So. 2d 1214 (Fla. 3d DCA 2003); Lucas v. Unemployment Appeals Comm’n, 664 So. 2d 1043 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995). The testimony from the owner at the hearing before the appeals referee was that the manager told him that he and Garcia had an argument and that Garcia le…
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Delvi, Inc. v. Fla. Unemployment Appeals Comm'n & Mario Pantaleon, 83 So. 3d 976 (Fla. 3d DCA 2012)…als Comm’n, 873 So. 2d 417 (Fla. 4th DCA 2004) (holding that employee who had argument with her supervisor over a work order and was fired for insubordination when she began to yell, did not involve misconduct); Tabares v. Fla. Unemployment Appeals, 838 So. 2d 1214 (Fla. 3d DCA 2003) (holding that employee’s raising her voice during meeting with supervisor did not constitute misconduct connected with work); Donnell v. Univ. Cmty. Hosp., 705 So. 2d 1031 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998) (holding that housekeeping department e…
Authorities Cited
- Albertha M. Donnell v. Univ. Cmty. Hosp. & Fla. Unemployment Appeals Comm'n, 705 So. 2d 1031 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998)
- Cullen v. Neighborly Senior Servs., Inc., 775 So. 2d 392 (Fla. 2d DCA 2000)
- Jorge v. Fla. Unemployment Appeals Comm'n, 765 So. 2d 889 (Fla. 3d DCA 2000)