Robinson v. Courtyard Mgmt. Corp., ED 94800.

• Decision Date: 11 January 2011
• Docket Number: No. ED 94800.,ED 94800.
• Citation: 329 S.W.3d 736
• Parties: Paula ROBINSON, Appellant, v. COURTYARD MANAGEMENT CORPORATION, and Division of Employment Security, Respondents.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

329 S.W.3d 736

Paula ROBINSON, Appellant,
v.
COURTYARD MANAGEMENT CORPORATION,
and
Division of Employment Security, Respondents.

No. ED 94800.

Missouri Court of Appeals,
Eastern District,
Division Three.

Jan. 11, 2011.

329 S.W.3d 737

Paula Robinson, St. Louis, MO, pro se.

Courtyard Management Corporation, St. Louis, MO, pro se.

Jeannie Desir Mitchell, Jefferson City, MO, for respondents.

LAWRENCE E. MOONEY, Judge.

The claimant, Paula Robinson, appeals the decision of the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission denying her unemployment-compensation benefits because she voluntarily left her work with the employer, Courtyard Management Corporation, without good cause attributable to the work or the employer. Because the evidence before the Commission showed that

329 S.W.3d 738

the claimant did not voluntarily leave her work, but rather was discharged for misconduct, we reverse and remand to the Commission with instructions to modify its decision in a manner consistent with this opinion.

Factual Background

The claimant worked for the employer's hotel as a front-desk clerk, night audit. Because the claimant worked the overnight shift, she typically communicated with the general manager by leaving notes in his office. The claimant suffered a knee injury at work, and had surgery in May 2009. She returned to light-duty work in June, and to full duty in July 2009. Because of budgetary considerations, the employer modified all job duties in the hotel, including adding duties to the claimant's position. These new duties required more standing and walking for the claimant when she returned to full duty.

At the end of August, the claimant suffered pain and swelling in her knee. She submitted to the general manager an incident report about her swollen knee on August 30, 2009. The claimant saw a doctor the next day, and received a note recommending physical restrictions at work and a follow-up with an orthopedic specialist. The claimant provided the doctor's note to the general manager. The general manager left two telephone messages for the claimant on September 1st, stating that the employer could accommodate the claimant's physical restrictions. The claimant did not return the general manager's calls, but left a note for him on September 1st, stating that she would be absent "for this week 9-1-09 through [.]" The note provided no expected return date. The claimant testified that she did not state a return date because she did not know when she would return to work and that, given the knee pain she had endured, "I think I've just had enough." She testified that she did not consider this letter as notice that she was leaving her job, but that she would return "at some point."

The employer responded via letter on September 2nd, outlining the claimant's schedule for the upcoming week, offering her restricted-duty work in accordance with the doctor's August 31st note, and requesting a work-ability evaluation from the claimant's doctor. On September 3rd, the claimant left another note for the general manager stating that she planned to follow doctor's orders, to seek the opinion of an orthopedic specialist before returning to work, and to spend "as long as it takes" to recover. The claimant did not report for her scheduled shifts on September 1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th.

On September 8, 2009, the claimant wrote the general manager that she had an appointment with an orthopedic specialist in March 2010, and that she would return to work thereafter. She also wrote, however, that if the swelling in her knee subsided before her March doctor's appointment, she would return to work with restrictions. The claimant testified that she did not think about medical leave, but only about following her doctor's August 31st orders. The record does not contain a copy of those orders, but the testimony and other exhibits reveal that the doctor released the claimant to work with restrictions, which the employer informed the claimant on multiple occasions that it could accommodate. The employer's...