BOBBY G. WELLS, JR., APPELLANT,
v.
UNEMPLOYMENT APPEALS COMMISSION, APPELLEE
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Wells, a leased employee, was discharged from his sales manager position after proposing to start a competing subcontracting business while still employed. The Unemployment Appeals Commission affirmed the denial of unemployment benefits, finding the discharge was based on misconduct involving a conflict of interest.
The court affirmed the denial of unemployment benefits, holding that the appeals referee's resolution of the factual dispute in favor of the employer—that Wells was told his job would be in jeopardy if he proceeded—was not erroneous, and that discharge for attempting to establish a competing business constituted misconduct connected with work.
[1] An employee discharged for a conflict of interest may be disqualified from receiving unemployment benefits if the employer provided clear notice that the employee's condu…
[2] An unemployment compensation appeals referee's factual findings, including credibility determinations between conflicting witness testimony, are binding on review.
Previewing 2 of 3 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“If Wells were placed on notice that it was not acceptable to C & S that he set up his own business to do the same work as his employer, contrary to his employer's wishes and instructions, it was not error for unemployment benefits to be denied.”
The court's holding that establishing a competing business while employed constitutes misconduct justifying discharge and disqualification from benefits.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceWells worked as a sales manager for C & S Supply for approximately two years and was a successful employee. He learned that C & S had a business arran…
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Bobby G. Wells [“Wells”], pro se, appeals the Unemployment Appeals Commission’s final order affirming the decision of the unemployment compensation appeals referee [“appeals referee”] that Wells was disqualified from receiving unemployment compensation benefits after finding that the basis for Wells’ discharge from Admin-istaff Companies II LP was misconduct connected with work.
This is a somewhat unusual case of discharge based on misconduct consisting of a conflict of interest. Wells was a leased employee to C & S Supply of Orlando, Inc. [“C & S”], where he had worked as a sales manager for approximately two years. C & S does commercial bathroom installations. By all accounts, he had been a successful employee.
Wells explained in his testimony that C & S had previously entered into an arrangement with a company that was owned by a different C & S employee to perform work as a C & S subcontractor. He had initially objected to this arrangement because this subcontractor would have inside information about the costs and the amount of money C & S had in the project, but C & S did not seem to be disturbed by this. C & S continued doing business with this employee-owned company and that employee remained employed by C & S. Wells decided he also would do
subcontracted installations for C & S for the projects that had to be done after-hours (like medical facilities), since the C & S workers did not like to do after-hours work. In a meeting with the C & S comptroller, he communicated his intent to become a vendor to C & S similar to the other employee’s company. The key issue in the case is what was said during that meeting. The comptroller, Ms. Akers, testified that she told Wells that Mr. Coursey, the owner of C & S, would not go along with his plan and that he would more than likely be terminated. Wells disputes this account, saying he was never told his job would be in jeopardy, although he acknowledges that Ms. Akers did say that Mr. Coursey “might not like it.”
Shortly after his meeting with Ms. Ak-ers, Wells gave Ms. Akers a variety of paperwork in support of his plan to perform after-hours installations as a subcontractor of C & S, including a worker’s comp exemption, a business license and a certificate of insurance for his own company. Shortly thereafter he received a phone call from Mr. Coursey, firing him.
The appeals referee resolved the conflict in testimony in favor of the employer, finding that Wells had been told by Ms. Akers that he would be fired if he started the same kind of business as his employer. We are bound by this factual finding. If Wells were placed on notice that it was not acceptable to C & S that he set up his own business to do the same work as his employer, contrary to his employer’s wishes and instructions, it was not error for unemployment benefits to be denied.
AFFIRMED.
MONACO, C.J., and ORFINGER, J., concur.