HIALEAH HOUSING AUTHORITY, APPELLANT,
v.
MARTA GARCIA, ET AL., APPELLEES
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The appellate court affirmed a decision by the Unemployment Appeals Commission that reversed a finding of misconduct. The court held that while the employee's actions justified termination, they did not rise to the level of "misconduct connected with work" required to disqualify her from unemployment benefits.
No, the employee's conduct, while grounds for termination, did not legally constitute "misconduct connected with work" to disqualify her from unemployment benefits.
“although an employee’s actions may justify discharge, the same conduct does not necessarily preclude entitlement to unemployment benefits”
Establishes the legal principle that grounds for termination do not automatically disqualify an employee from unemployment benefits.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceThe Hialeah Housing Authority appealed a decision that granted unemployment benefits to an employee. The employee had been terminated for actions that…
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WELLS, Judge.
Employer, Hialeah Housing Authority, appeals from a decision of the Unemployment Appeals Commission reversing a determination by an appeals referee disqualifying an employee from receiving unemployment compensation benefits because she had engaged in misconduct connected with work. See 443.036(29), Fla. Stat. (2005).1 We agree with the UAC that the facts as found by the appeals referee, while justifying termination of this employee, do not, as a matter of law, constitute misconduct connected with work so as to disqualify her from receiving unemployment compensation benefits. See Johnson v. Unemployment Appeals Comm’n, 884 So. 2d 228, 229 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004) (confirming that misconduct under this provision is not mere inefficiency, unsatisfactory conduct, poor performance as a consequence of incapacity, inadvertence, good faith errors in judgment or discretion, or ordinary negligence in isolated instances and that misbehavior serious enough to warrant dismissal is not necessarily serious enough to sustain a forfeiture of unemployment benefits); Betancourt v. Sun Bank Miami, N.A, 672 So. 2d 37, 38 (Fla. 3d DCA 1996) (stating that “[a]l-though an employee’s actions may justify discharge, the same conduct does not necessarily preclude entitlement to unemployment benefits”).
Accordingly, we affirm.
. Section 443.036(29) in pertinent part provides:
"Misconduct" includes, but is not limited to, the following, which may not be construed in pari material with each other:
(a)Conduct demonstrating willful or wanton disregard of an employer’s interests and found to be a deliberate violation or disregard of the standards of behavior which the employer has a right to expect of his or her employee; or (b)Carelessness or negligence to a degree or recurrence that manifests culpability, wrongful intent, or evil design or shows an intentional and substantial disregard of the employer’s interests or of the employee’s duties and obligations to his or her employer.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- Philip Morris, Inc. v. Broin, 672 So. 2d 37 (Fla. 3d DCA 1996)
- Amaury P. Betancourt, Jr. v. SUN Bank Miami, N.A., 672 So. 2d 37 (Fla. 3d DCA 1996)
- Johnson v. Unemployment Appeals Comm'n & Crum Staffing, Inc., 884 So. 2d 228 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004)