Opinion
Argued March 9, 1979
June 11, 1979.
Unemployment compensation — Absenteeism — Warnings — Burden of proof — Wilful misconduct — Substantial evidence.
1. Absenteeism can constitute wilful misconduct precluding the receipt of unemployment compensation benefits by an employe discharged therefor but only if the employer proves that the employe was warned of the consequences of such conduct, and findings by the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review that no such warning had been given will not be disturbed on appeal when supported by substantial evidence. [331-2]
Argued March 9, 1979, before Judges CRUMLISH, JR., DiSALLE and CRAIG, sitting as a panel of three.
Appeal, No. 329 C.D. 1978, from the Order of the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review in case of In Re: Claim of Jeanne S. Hoaglund, No. B-151902.
Application to the Bureau of Employment Security for unemployment compensation benefits. Benefits denied. Applicant appealed. Benefits denied by referee. Applicant appealed to the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review. Benefits awarded. Employer appealed to the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. Held: Affirmed.
Donald E. Speice, Daniel J. Ratchford, and Benton, Ratchford Consiglio, for petitioner.
Daniel R. Schuckers, Assistant Attorney General, with him Susan Shinkman, Assistant Attorney General, and Gerald Gornish, Attorney General, for respondent.
The instant petition for review raises but one issue: whether Jeanne S. Hoaglund, an unemployment compensation claimant, was specifically warned by her employer, Anderson Electronics, that her absenteeism would result in her discharge. The burden of proving this point rested upon the employer. Rivers v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 36 Pa. Commw. 470, 387 A.2d 1352 (1978). The Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, in reversing the referee, concluded that claimant had never been so informed. The employer representative testified that he was aware that claimant's gynecological problems would cause her to be absent from work approximately two days per month and that a verbal understanding to that effect had been reached. When questioned if a direct warning had ever been given to claimant, he responded, "[n]ot in those words." This testimony, coupled with that of claimant, compels us to agree that substantial evidence exists in the record of this case to support the finding of the Board. It follows, therefore, that claimant's behavior cannot be characterized as willful misconduct. See Frumento v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 466 Pa. 81, 351 A.2d 631 (1976). The Board properly found claimant to be eligible for benefits.
Accordingly, we affirm.
ORDER
AND NOW, this 11th day of June, 1979, the order of the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, dated December 23, 1977, granting benefits to Jeanne S. Hoaglund, is hereby affirmed.