Gonzales v. Industrial Com'n of State of Colo., 85SC182

Citation740 P.2d 999
Decision Date27 July 1987
Docket NumberNo. 85SC182,85SC182
PartiesJoe A. GONZALES, Petitioner, v. INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION OF the STATE OF COLORADO, and Monfort of Colorado, Inc., Respondents.
CourtSupreme Court of Colorado

Hornbein, MacDonald, Fattor and Buckley, P.C., Philip Hornbein, Jr., Denver, for petitioner.

Duane Woodard, Atty. Gen., Charles B. Howe, Chief Deputy Atty. Gen., Richard H. Forman, Sol. Gen., Christa D. Taylor, Asst. Atty. Gen., Denver, for respondent Industrial Com'n.

Holland & Hart, John M. Husband, James J. Gonzales, Denver, for respondent Monfort of Colo., Inc.

KIRSHBAUM, Justice.

In Gonzales v. Industrial Commission, No. 84CA0804 (Colo.App. Mar. 14, 1985), an unpublished decision, the Court of Appeals affirmed an order of the Industrial Commission (the Commission) disqualifying the petitioner, Joe A. Gonzales (Gonzales), from the receipt of unemployment compensation benefits. The Court of Appeals concluded that, because Gonzales had been discharged pursuant to certain disciplinary guidelines established by his employer, the Commission properly refused to consider other circumstances relevant to Gonzales' discharge. We granted certiorari to review this conclusion, and now reverse and remand with directions.

I

From April 1982 until December 1983, Gonzales was employed by Monfort of Colorado, Inc. (Monfort) as a processing laborer at Monfort's Greeley meatpacking plant. Gonzales was issued a copy of the Monfort Information Handbook, which contained a detailed explanation of the company's five-step disciplinary program governing dismissal of employees without regard to fault. Any employee who reached Step Five as the result of accumulated disciplinary action was automatically discharged. In this regard, the handbook provided the following pertinent information:

[W]e have developed a NO FAULT absentee program under which all except specific Absence Occurrences listed below will be counted as Absence Occurrences REGARDLESS OF THE REASON FOR ABSENCE.

....

If you have two (2) or more Absence Occurrences during any thirty (30) calendar day period you may be considered to have been absent excessively.

....

An employee who has two (2) ABSENCE OCCURRENCES during any thirty (30) calendar day period will be charged with a step in the [five-step disciplinary] program, which will move that employee to the next step of the procedure.

Specifically exempted from disciplinary action were absences involving workers' compensation injury, vacation, jury duty, paid funeral leave, military leave or leave of absence approved in writing and in advance by a supervisor.

Between July 11 and December 23, 1983, Gonzales was disciplined on five separate occasions: twice for absenteeism, once for failure to follow instructions, once for failure to perform the quantity and quality of work expected and once for failure to telephone the job site thirty minutes prior to starting time when unavailable for work due to illness. Upon receiving the fifth disciplinary action, he was discharged from employment.

Gonzales applied for unemployment compensation benefits. Monfort filed a protest, asserting that Gonzales had been discharged because of excessive absenteeism and because he had exhausted all five steps of the company's disciplinary program. The Deputy of the Division of Employment and Training concluded that Gonzales was responsible for the separation and, pursuant to section 8-73-108(9)(a)(XX), 3 C.R.S. (1983 Supp.) (now codified at § 8-73-108(5)(e)(XX), 3B C.R.S. (1986)), denied benefits.

Gonzales appealed, and a hearing was conducted by a Commission referee. The evidence at the hearing revealed several additional circumstances surrounding Gonzales' discharge. The initial discipline was imposed because Gonzales incurred two absences within a thirty-day period, specifically on June 15 and July 8, 1983. Shortly after undertaking a new work assignment processing meat on a moving conveyor belt in early August 1983, Gonzales received a second discipline for failure to follow instructions and a third discipline for failure to perform the quantity and quality of work expected. Gonzales' work performance improved, however, and his work was later complimented by a supervisor. The Step Four discipline was imposed on October 11, 1983, for failure to telephone Monfort at least thirty minutes prior to starting time when too ill to work. The final discipline was imposed when Gonzales was again absent twice within a thirty-day period during December 1983. The evidence also established that Monfort officials counseled Gonzales after both the third and fourth disciplinary sanctions and informed him that his employment would be terminated if he received a Step Five discipline.

Gonzales testified that he was physically unable to perform the quantity and quality of work expected of him when he was transferred to work on the conveyor belt in August 1983; that he was unable to notify his employer of his unavailability for work one-half hour prior to his starting time on October 11, 1983, due to gastrointestinal illness, but did telephone at the first practicable time, approximately fifteen or twenty minutes before starting time; and that he was absent from work in December 1983 due to car trouble beyond his control. The Commission referee concluded that although several of the disciplinary steps imposed on Gonzales under Monfort's process were "questionable," questions about whether any of the steps were unjustified were irrelevant. Accordingly, the referee affirmed the Deputy's decision. The Commission adopted the referee's findings of fact and conclusions of law. In affirming the Commission's order, the Court of Appeals concluded that the evidence established that Monfort properly followed its five-step disciplinary process and also established that Gonzales was discharged for excessive absenteeism.

II

Monfort argues that a final order of the Commission may be reversed only where the evidence is insufficient to support the determination and that the Commission properly relied on Monfort's disciplinary guidelines in concluding that Gonzales should be disqualified from receiving unemployment compensation benefits. We disagree.

A

It is true, of course, that the Commission's findings of fact may not be altered on review where supported by substantial evidence. Sims v. Industrial Comm'n, 627 P.2d 1107 (Colo.1981); Mohawk Data Sciences Corp. v. Industrial Comm'n, 660 P.2d 922 (Colo.App.1983); § 8-74-107(4), 3B C.R.S. (1986). However, section 8-74-107(6), 3B C.R.S. (1986), provides expressly that an Industrial Commission decision must be set aside if the findings of fact do not support the decision or if the decision is erroneous as a matter of law. Thus, a reviewing court may also consider such issues as whether the Commission applied improper principles of law in reaching its decision and whether the Commission's findings support its decision. See, e.g., Andersen v. Industrial Comm'n, 167 Colo. 281, 447 P.2d 221 (1968); Mountain States Tel. & Tel. Co. v. Industrial Comm'n, 637 P.2d 401 (Colo.App.1981). These inquiries are not forestalled simply because substantial evidence in the record supports the Commission's findings. Andersen v. Industrial Comm'n, 167 Colo. 281, 447 P.2d 221; § 8-74-107(6).

B

Monfort asserts that when an employer establishes guidelines for determining when an employee's conduct requires discharge, an employee's discharge pursuant to those guidelines should prohibit any award of unemployment compensation benefits to that employee. However, the determination of eligibility for unemployment compensation benefits and of standards of disqualification are matters within the province of the General Assembly. Pierce v. Industrial Comm'n, 195 Colo. 10, 576 P.2d 1012 (1978); Miller v. Industrial Comm'n, 173 Colo. 476, 480 P.2d 565 (1971). Private parties may not by agreement or rule render ineffectual the rules and standards provided by statute. E.g., Hagenbuch v. Plainwell Paper Co., 153 Mich.App. 834, 396 N.W.2d 556 (1986); O'Keefe v. Tabitha, Inc., 224 Neb. 574, 399 N.W.2d 798 (1987). The Colorado Employment Security Act establishes the Commission and delegates to that administrative agency the responsibility of applying the standards adopted by the General Assembly to determine whether under all the circumstances of the case a particular separation from employment shall result in an award of benefits. Pierce v. Industrial Comm'n, 195 Colo. 10, 576 P.2d 1012; § 8-73-108(4), 3B C.R.S. (1986). Furthermore, the provisions of the act are to be interpreted liberally in favor of the employee. F.R. Orr Constr. Co. v. Industrial Comm'n, 188 Colo. 173, 534 P.2d 785 (1975); Harding v. Industrial Comm'n, 183 Colo. 52, 515 P.2d 95 (1973); Stern v. Industrial Comm'n, 667 P.2d 244 (Colo.App.1983).

Whether an employee's conduct should disqualify the employee from receiving unemployment compensation benefits is an issue quite distinct from the question of whether the employee was discharged in accordance with particular employer-generated guidelines. Industrial Comm'n v. Moffat County School Dist., 732 P.2d 616 (Colo.1987); accord, e.g., Causin v. Blache, 498 So.2d 101 (La.Ct.App.1986); Deering v. Unitog Rental Services, 381 N.W.2d 486 (Minn.Ct.App.1986). It has been widely recognized that a violation of an employer's disciplinary rule does not per se require denial of unemployment benefits. See, e.g., Industrial Comm'n v. Moffat County School Dist., 732 P.2d 616 (schoolteacher who has been dismissed is not necessarily precluded from receiving benefits); Escamilla v. Industrial Comm'n, 670 P.2d 815 (Colo.App.1983) (where employer discharged claimant for fighting after warning not to engage in fighting, no disqualification from benefits because claimant acted only to protect himself against unprovoked assault by co-employee); Mountain States Tel. & Tel. Co. v. Industrial Comm'n, 637 P.2d 401 (Colo.App.1981) (where employer discharged...

To continue reading

Request your trial
28 cases
  • Maurer v. Young Life
    • United States
    • Colorado Supreme Court
    • 18 d1 Setembro d1 1989
    ... ... Anne MAURER, Property Tax Administrator, State of ... Colorado, Petitioner, ... YOUNG LIFE, ... Young Life, 751 P.2d 653 (Colo.App.1987). The issues presented in this case are ... orders and decisions of PUC); see also Gonzales v. Industrial Comm'n, 740 P.2d 999, 1001 ... ...
  • Sellon v. City of Manitou Springs
    • United States
    • Colorado Supreme Court
    • 2 d1 Novembro d1 1987
    ... ... Mountain Air Ranch, 192 Colo. 364, 563 P.2d 341 (1977); Wright v. City of ... Tri-State Generation & Transmission Co. v. City of ... Gonzales v. Industrial Comm'n, 740 P.2d 999 (Colo.1987); ... ...
  • Medeiros v. Labor and Indus. Relations
    • United States
    • Hawaii Supreme Court
    • 1 d4 Setembro d4 2005
    ... ... HAWAI`I DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS, Unemployment Insurance Division; ... of Labor and Industrial Relations, State of Hawai`i ...         NAKAYAMA, ... "misconduct connected with work." See Gonzales v. Industrial Commission of the State of , 740 P.2d 999, 1003 (Colo.1987) ("adoption of such an approach would in ... ...
  • Starr v. Industrial Claim Appeals Office
    • United States
    • Colorado Court of Appeals
    • 10 d4 Dezembro d4 2009
    ... ... INDUSTRIAL CLAIM APPEALS OFFICE of the State of Colorado and Community Hospital Association, ... AMI Industries, Inc., 759 P.2d 834, 835 (Colo.App.1988) ... III. Evidence of Value ... resulting in the discharge from employment." Gonzales v. Industrial Comm'n, 740 P.2d 999, 1003 (Colo.1987) ... ...
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT