Reno v. Tyson Poultry, Inc.

• Citation: 204 S.W.3d 347
• Decision Date: 31 October 2006
• Docket Number: No. WD 66444.,WD 66444.
• Parties: June RENO, Appellant, v. TYSON POULTRY, INC., Defendant, Division of Employment Security, Respondent.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Missouri (US)

204 S.W.3d 347

June RENO, Appellant, v. TYSON POULTRY, INC., Defendant, Division of Employment Security, Respondent.

No. WD 66444.

Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District.

October 31, 2006.

Richard Paul Beard, Sedalia, for Appellant.

Cynthia Ann Quetsch, Jefferson City, for Respondent.

Before JAMES M. SMART, JR., P.J., EDWIN H. SMITH, and LISA WHITE HARDWICK, JJ.

JAMES M. SMART, JR., Judge.

June Reno appeals the decision of the Labor & Industrial Relations Commission finding her disqualified for waiting week credit and benefits on the basis that Ms. Reno voluntarily left her employment without good cause. She contends that the decision was not supported by the competent and substantial evidence on the whole record. We agree with the Commission that the claimant did not demonstrate that her physician had restricted her to forty hours of work per week, and that she did not demonstrate that any restrictions constituted "good cause" for her voluntary separation from employment. But because our study of the record shows that the Commission erred in a factual determination related to the "good cause" issue, and because the record does not clarify facts that might have been pertinent to that analysis, we conclude that the decision must be vacated and remanded for further proceedings.

Factual Background

Claimant Ms. Reno began working for Tyson Poultry, Inc., in June 2003.¹ She was assigned work in 2003 in the position of "USDA Inspector Helper." In that position, she engaged in repetitive motions handling poultry, assisting inspectors. In December 2003, while "hanging birds back over [her] head," the 49-year-old worker suffered an injury to her left hand, elbow, and shoulder. The injury, which was compensable under the workers' compensation law, included some degree of permanent impairment.

During the time Ms. Reno was undergoing treatment for the injury, the company assigned her to the laundry operation in a "made-up" job in order to accommodate the temporary restrictions the physician gave her. She was helping "at the [laundry] window to give out supplies to team members." At other times, the company would also assign her to the "evisceration room," where she did paperwork. She generally worked less than 40 hours per week during this period.

By mid-April 2005, the HR office understood that the recovery period was ended and that it was time to move Ms. Reno to a permanent position that corresponded to any permanent restrictions she had. Ms. Reno testified that the subject of the new position first came up about the middle of April, about a week before the meeting at which she was suspended. She testified that a nurse and a management officer told her that the "spreader" position in "cut-up" (also sometimes referred to as "fully cooked") was a possibility. They also mentioned the possibility of another position. They said, however, that they would do further investigation with the doctor because no one understood the restrictions. Ms. Reno also said that one of the nurses told her that a permanent position in the laundry room might be a possibility.

On April 22, Ms. Reno was called to a meeting with the Production Manager, a nurse, and the Human Resources Supervisor, Mr. Ginnett. The nurse had determined that a position that would match Ms. Reno's restrictions was the "spreader" position. According to Mr. Ginnett, that position was offered to Ms. Reno, but Ms. Reno declined because she did not want to work six days a week. Mr. Ginnett testified that he and the Production Manager then brought Ms. Reno to the HR office to explain to her "the consequences" of refusing to do the job (meaning that Tyson could discharge her). When she did not accept the position offered, they asked her to write out a statement of why she did not want to accept the position. She wrote out a statement to the effect that she "did not feel" she could perform work "six nights a week or more." The two company officers then suspended her until April 27. When she came back on April 27, her stance had not changed. The company terminated her.

The company nurse testified that the restrictions provided by the doctor for Ms. Reno did not restrict her to working 40 hours a week, although the restrictions (which related to physical movement, torque, lifting, etc.) were extensive.

Ms. Reno stated she would not accept the spreader position, which, she said, was a six-day-a-week job, and, in the fall of the year toward the holiday season, expanded to seven days a week. She said the management staff stated to her that the position only "occasionally" involved six or more days a week. Ms. Reno did not accept that characterization of the job requirements. She declined the job because she did not believe she could work six or seven days per week. According to Mr. Ginnett, Ms. Reno did not say during the meeting that the doctor had restricted her to forty hours. She simply expressed that she did not believe she could work more than five days per week.

On appeal, she contends that she was terminated; but in the event this court views her separation as voluntary, she contends that she had "good cause" related to her employment for declining the position she was offered. Thus, she contends that the Commission erroneously denied her benefits.

Standard of Review

Article V, Section 18 provides for judicial review of the Commission's decision:

All final decisions, findings, rules and orders on any administrative officer or body existing under the constitution or by law, which are judicial or quasi-judicial and affect private rights, shall be subject to direct review by the courts as provided by law; and such review shall include the determination whether the same are authorized by law, and in cases in which a hearing is required by law, whether the same are supported by competent and substantial evidence upon the whole record. . . .

In Hampton v. Big Boy Steel Erection, 121 S.W.3d 220, 222 (Mo. banc 2003), the Court, after noting the constitutional directive, found the statutory standards in Section 287.495 to be in harmony with the constitutional standard. The court went on to state:

A court must examine the whole record to determine if it contains sufficient competent and substantial evidence to support the award, i.e., whether the award is contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence. Whether the award is supported by competent and substantial evidence is judged by examining the evidence in the context of the whole record. An award that is contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence is, in context, not supported by competent and substantial evidence.

The Court in Hampton also made clear that judicial review is to be conducted objectively, without viewing "the evidence and all reasonable inferences drawn therefrom in the light most favorable to the award." Id. at 222-23. The Court specified that the examination of the record is a one-step process of determining whether "considering the whole record, there is sufficient competent and substantial evidence to support the award." Id. at 223. This standard would not be met "in the rare case when the award is contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence." Id.

Review of the Commission's decision under the Employment Security Law is the same as review of a decision under the Workers' Compensation Law. CNW Foods, Inc. v. Davidson, 141 S.W.3d 100, 103 (Mo.App.2004). The Constitutional provision is the same, and the two statutes (287.495.1 and 288.210) in the respective chapters are "virtually identical." Id. Therefore, as in Workers' Compensation cases, we look to the whole record in reviewing the Board's decision, not merely at the evidence that supports its decision. Id. We view the evidence objectively, not in the light most favorable to the decision of the Commission.

Voluntary Separation

In this case, Ms. Reno declined to work in a position that the company determined would fit her restrictions. There is no evidence that the physician restricted Ms. Reno to 40 hours (although he, according to Ms. Reno, "recommended" that she work only 40 hours). There is also no evidence that at the April 22 meeting or thereafter, Ms. Reno presented any information to the employer to verify that she was restricted to 40 hours. Thus, although her employer informed her she was terminated, that characterization does not bind our review. We review the matter as a voluntary separation from employment. See Missouri Div. Of Employment Sec. v. Labor and Ind. Rel. Comm'n of Mo., 651 S.W.2d 145, 149 (Mo. banc 1983).

Because the separation is viewed as voluntary, the claimant, Ms. Reno bears the burden of proving that her voluntary separation resulted from good cause attributable to her work or her employer. See § 288.050.1(1). "Good cause," according to the courts, has "no fixed or precise meaning, and is judged by the facts of each case." Sokol v. Labor & Indus. Relations Comm'n, 946 S.W.2d 20, 24 (Mo.App. 1997). The phrase has been interpreted to mean "cause that would motivate the average able-bodied and qualified worker in a similar situation to terminate his or her employment." Hessler v. Labor & Indus. Relations Comm'n, 851 S.W.2d 516, 518 (Mo. banc 1993). The "good cause" necessary to support the award of unemployment benefits when an employee voluntarily quits must be cause attributable to her work or her employment. § 288.050.1. The conditions that motivate an employee to voluntarily leave "must be real, not imaginary, substantial, not trifling, and reasonable, not whimsical, and good faith is an essential element." Hessler, 851 S.W.2d at 518. Mere dissatisfaction with working conditions does not constitute good cause for quitting employment unless the dissatisfaction is based on a substantial change in wages or working conditions from those in force at the time the claimant's employment commenced. Cooper v. Hy-Vee, Inc., 31 S.W.3d 497, 504 (Mo.App.2000) (citing Van Drie v. Performance...