FLORIDA JUNIOR COLLEGE AT JACKSONVILLE, PETITIONER,
v.
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, DIVISION OF EMPLOYMENT SECURITY, AND JAMES HUGGINS, RESPONDENTS
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Florida District Court of Appeal reversed the Board of Review's award of unemployment compensation benefits to an employee discharged for misconduct, holding that substantial competent evidence supported the finding that the employee's unauthorized absence in protest of work assignments constituted disqualifying misconduct.
An employee discharged for unauthorized absence in protest of work assignments, after prior warnings about absenteeism, is disqualified from unemployment compensation benefits because the discharge was for misconduct supported by substantial competent evidence.
[1] An employee's unauthorized absence from work in protest of newly assigned duties, following prior warnings about absenteeism, constitutes misconduct disqualifying the emp…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceJames Huggins worked as a plant worker or custodian for Florida Junior College at Jacksonville beginning in January 1974 and was discharged on July 18…
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SHIVERS, Judge.
Mr. Huggins began working for petitioner as a plant worker or custodian in January of 1974, and was discharged July 18, 1977. Mr. Huggins was absent from work without approved leave on July 15, 1977, in a protest of additional work that had recently been assigned him. The evidence reflects that Mr. Huggins had been previously warned about absenteeism. Petitioner contested the claim for unemployment compensation benefits filed by Mr. Huggins. The first hearing on this issue was held before Referee Acosta, without the petitioner’s presence, on September 22, 1977. Referee Acosta held that claimant was discharged for misconduct, as had the Claims Examiner. The Board of Review, Division of Employment Compensation, held that the first hearing showed that claimant only exhibited poor judgment. The Board of Review granted a second hearing, to provide the employer with an opportunity to be heard. Referee Preston presided at the second hearing on January 27, 1978. Preston made no further finding and the Board of Review awarded benefits.
We reverse. There was competent substantial evidence showing misconduct on the part of claimant. The Board of Review did not comport with the essential requirements of law by substituting its judgment for that of the Claims Examiner and the Appeals Referee. The finding of Appeals Referee Acosta that Mr. Huggins was terminated for misconduct was supported by substantial competent evidence. Mr. Huggins is therefore not entitled to unemployment compensation benefits.
REVERSED. •
MILLS, C. J., and McCORD, J., concur.
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Sanchez v. Dep't of Labor & Emp. Sec., 411 So. 2d 313 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982)…authorized absence from work for personal reasons not of a critical nature may comprise employee misconduct justifying a refusal of compensation. Florida Junior College at Jacksonville v. Florida Department of Labor, Division of Employment Security, 381 So. 2d 1120 (Fla. 1st DCA 1979); City of Riviera [*315] Beach v. Florida Department of Commerce, Division of Employment Security, 372 So. 2d 1007 (Fla. 4th DCA 1979). When viewed against this legal background, the record in this case clearly evinces substantia…
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Etta M. Goldstein v. URY Kalai, M.D., P.A., 480 So. 2d 695 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985)…during four months’ employment with hospital, employee never worked scheduled forty-hour week, was repeatedly tardy, and took time off work to have elective surgery without prior approval); Fla. Junior College at Jacksonville v. Fla. Dept, of Labor, 381 So. 2d 1120 (Fla. 1st DCA 1979) (substantial competent evidence of misconduct found where employee who had been previously warned about absenteeism declined to report to work in order to protest additional work assignment); Fort Myers Pump and Supply, Inc. v. F…
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Pontrello v. Est. OF Kenneth C. Kepler, 528 So. 2d 441 (Fla. 2d DCA 1988)…7 So. 2d 348 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985); Escambia County Council on Aging v. Goldsmith, 465 So. 2d 655 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985); Special Disability Trust Fund v. Motor and Compressor Co., 446 So. 2d 224 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984); Florida Legal Services, Inc. v. State, 381 So. 2d 1120 (Fla. 1st DCA 1979). Even if we were to read the statute concerning removal into the qualification statutes, we would find that no statutory cause for removal existed in this case. The parties agree that since there was no court reporter at the hea…
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