SHIRLEY PORTER, APPELLANT,
v.
FLORIDA UNEMPLOYMENT APPEALS COMMISSION AND ALLEN CHILDREN CENTERS, INC., APPELLEES

Fla. 1st DCA | 2009-01-09
No. 1D08-0063
WOLF and BROWNING, JJ., concur.
1 So. 3d 1101 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (2009) Positive Treatment
Cited by 12 cases

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

Shirley Porter appealed her disqualification from unemployment benefits after voluntarily submitting a two-week resignation letter. The court reversed, holding that because her employer terminated her employment three days before her resignation's effective date, she was discharged rather than voluntarily quitting, and therefore remained eligible for benefits.


Holding

Porter was discharged, not a voluntary quit, on August 7, 2007. Because her employer terminated her employment before her resignation's effective date and for reasons unrelated to misconduct, she is entitled to unemployment compensation benefits under Florida Statute § 443.101(1)(a), notwithstanding her earlier resignation notice.


Headnotes

[1] An employer bears the burden to prove a voluntary quit or discharge for misconduct once a claimant establishes employment has ended and they have not worked for at least…

[2] An employee discharged prior to the effective date of their resignation did not voluntarily quit their employment.

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Key Quotes

“After a claimant proves that her employment has ended and that she has not worked for at least a week, the burden shifts to the employer to prove either a voluntary quit... or a discharge attributable to the employee's misconduct connected with work.”

Establishes the legal standard: once employment ends, the burden is on the employer to prove voluntary quit or discharge for misconduct.

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Facts & Procedural History

Porter worked as a cook for Allen Children Centers from May 23 to August 7, 2007. On July 27, 2007, she submitted a resignation letter effective Augus…

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Opinion of the Court
BENTON, J.

BENTON, J.

Shirley Porter appeals a final order of the Unemployment Appeals Commission (the Commission) affirming an appeals referee’s decision holding her disqualified from receiving unemployment benefits because she voluntarily left work without good cause attributable to her employer. Finding no competent and substantial evidence in the record that supports the referee’s finding that she left work voluntarily, we reverse.

At issue here is whether the employer proved a “voluntary quit” on August 7, 2007. “After a claimant proves that her employment has ended and that she has not worked for at least a week, the burden shifts to the employer to prove either a voluntary quit, see Gulf County Sch. Bd. v. Washington, 567 So.2d 420 (Fla.1990), or a discharge attributable to the employee’s misconduct connected with work. See Lewis v. Lakeland Health Care Ctr., Inc., 685 So.2d 876, 878 (Fla. 2d DCA 1996).” Gilbert v. Dep’t of Corr., 696 So.2d 416, 417-18 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997).

Ms. Porter worked full-time as a cook for Allen Children Centers (the Center) from May 23, 2007 through August 7, 2007. On July 27, 2007, because “[tjhings just weren’t going right,” she submitted a resignation letter to her employer which was to become effective two weeks later, on August 10, 2007. The Center never formally accepted appellant’s resignation, as far as can be told from the record.

But the Center immediately placed an ad, began interviewing potential replacements, and on August 6, 2007, hired a replacement cook who was able to start working immediately. On August 7, 2007, the executive director of the Center told appellant to “leave” because the Center had hired another cook to replace her and *1103could not afford to pay two cooks simultaneously.

The appeals referee found that appellant voluntarily left work (without good cause attributable to her employer) on August 7, 2007. The Commission affirmed the referee’s decision and, on that basis, disqualified her from receiving unemployment benefits. On appeal, appellant contends she was denied benefits illegally, arguing that she did not leave work voluntarily, as a matter of fact, but was instead “dismissed” on August 7, 2007.

The question whether claimant left work voluntarily is one of fact and thus “within the province of the appeals referee.” Roman v. A-l Specialty Gasolines, Inc., 682 So.2d 1241, 1242 (Fla. 1st DCA 1996) (citing Campeanu v. Fla. Unemployment Appeals Comm’n, 629 So.2d 1015, 1016 (Fla. 4th DCA 1993)); see also Jones v. Creative World Sch., Inc., 603 So.2d 118, 119 (Fla. 2d DCA 1992); Ritenour v. Unemployment Appeals Comm’n, 570 So.2d 1106, 1107 (Fla. 5th DCA 1990). But this court must reverse the Commission’s decision to affirm the referee’s findings where, as here, competent, substantial evidence does not support the findings. See Fillmore v. Fla. Unemployment Appeals Comm’n, 873 So.2d 1256, 1256 (Fla. 1st DCA 2004); see also § 120.68(7)(b), Fla. Stat. (2007).

The appeals referee found that “[o]n August 7, 2007, the claimant voluntarily quit her employment with the employer because things were not working out.” Although appellant testified that she submitted her two-week notice of resignation which would have become effective on August 10, 2007, because “[t]hings just weren’t going right,” appellant actually left work on August 7, 2007, three days before her resignation was to become effective, when her employer told her to leave because it had hired a cook to replace her and could not pay two cooks simultaneously. Accordingly, no competent and substantial evidence supports the referee’s conclusion that appellant left work voluntarily on August 7, 2007.

We have found no Florida case addressing an unemployment compensation claimant’s entitlement to benefits when, after submitting a notice of resignation that specifies an effective date, the claimant is discharged prior to the date the resignation takes effect.* Other state courts deciding the question overwhelmingly hold that an employee who submits a voluntary notice of resignation is not disqualified from receipt of benefits when he or she is terminated prior to the effective date of the resignation.

One line of decisions holds that an employee whose employer terminates her employment prior to the effective date of her resignation has never left work voluntarily and therefore cannot be disqualified from receipt of benefits on that basis, even for the period following the employee’s intended date of departure. See Dillard Dep’t Stores, Inc. v. Polinsky, 247 Neb. 821, 530 N.W.2d 637, 643 (1995); W. Jordan v. Morrison, 656 P.2d 445, 446-47 (Utah 1982); Vieweg v. Gatson, 209 W.Va. 268, 546 S.E.2d 267, 270-71 (2000); see also *1104 Mauro v. Adm’r, Unemployment Comp. Act, 19 Conn.Supp. 362, 113 A.2d 866, 866-67 (1954); Cotright v. F.C. Doyal, 195 So.2d 176, 179 (La.Ct.App.1967); Coleman v. Miss. Employment Sec. Comm’n, 662 So.2d 626, 628 (Miss.1995). We find this view persuasive, and adopt it as our own.

Another line of cases holds that unemployment compensation benefits must be limited to the period between the date of an employee’s discharge and the effective date of his resignation. See Diringer v. Indus. Comm’n of the State of Colo., 712 P.2d 1091, 1091-92 (Colo. Ct.App.1985); Mason v. Donnelly Club, 135 Idaho 581, 21 P.3d 903, 908 (2001); Redline Express, Inc. v. State of Kan. Employment Sec. Bd. of Review, 27 Kan.App.2d 1067, 11 P.3d 85, 89 (2000); Stephen’s Nu-Ad, Inc. v. Green, 168 MichApp. 219, 423 N.W.2d 625, 627-29 (1988); Ennis v. Employment Div., 37 Or. App. 281, 587 P.2d 102, 103 (1978); Amado v. Unemployment Comp. Bd. of Review, 177 Pa.Super. 506, 110 A.2d 807, 808 (1955). Even these cases recognize that discharge before the effective date of a resignation is not a voluntary quit.

We conclude that because appellant never left work voluntarily but was instead discharged from employment on August 7, 2007 (for reasons not related to misconduct connected with her work), she is entitled to recover unemployment compensation benefits under section 443.101(l)(a), Fla. Stat. (2007), notwithstanding the offer she had made to resign effective August 10, 2007.

We accordingly reverse the Commission’s decision affirming the referee’s decision finding appellant disqualified from receiving benefits.

Reversed and remanded.

WOLF and BROWNING, JJ., concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • …suant to ss. 120.569 and 120.57; however, the court shall not substitute its judgment for that of the agency as to the weight of the evidence on any disputed finding of fact; (emphasis added). See also Porter v. Florida Unemployment Appeals Comm’n, 1 So. 3d 1101 (Fla. 1st DCA 2009) (“[T]his court must reverse the [Unemployment Appeals] Commission’s decision to affirm the referee’s findings where, as here, competent, substantial evidence does not support the findings.”); Thorkelson v. N.Y. Pizza & Pasta, Inc…
  • Garcia v. Wolf IN the Woods, Inc., 37 So. 3d 313 (Fla. 3d DCA 2010)
    …yer and disqualified Garcia from receiving unemployment compensation benefits. The question of whether the claimant left work voluntarily is one of fact and within the province of the appeals referee. See Porter v. Fla. Unemployment Appeals Comm’n, 1 So. 3d 1101 (Fla. 1st DCA 2009), review granted, 20 So. 3d 848 (Fla.2009), and cases cited. An appellate court must reverse the Commission’s decision to affirm the referee’s findings where competent substantial evidence does not support the findings. Porter, 1…
  • …ds support in this record. While this Court will not reweigh evidence to come to a conclusion different from that of a trier of fact, we are not obligated to affirm an unsupported legal determination. See Porter v. Fla. Unemployment Appeals Comm’n, 1 So. 3d 1101, 1103 (Fla. 1st DCA 2009) (recognizing that, while the “question whether claimant left work voluntarily is one of fact and thus ‘within the province of the appeals referee,’ ” an appellate court “must reverse the Commission’s decision to affirm the…

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