Unemployment Ins. Appeal Bd. v. Martin

• Citation: 431 A.2d 1265
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Delaware
• Decision Date: 16 June 1981
• Parties: UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE APPEAL BOARD and Globe Union, Inc., Defendants Below, Appellants, v. John H. MARTIN and Trudy L. Martin, Plaintiffs Below, Appellees.

Page 1265

431 A.2d 1265

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE APPEAL BOARD and Globe Union, Inc., Defendants Below, Appellants, v. John H. MARTIN and Trudy L. Martin, Plaintiffs Below, Appellees.

Supreme Court of Delaware.

Submitted May 12, 1981.

Decided June 16, 1981.

James R. Leonard (Argued), of Potter & Carmine, P. A., Wilmington, for defendants below, appellants.

Harvey B. Rubenstein (Argued), of Wilmington, for plaintiffs below, appellees.

Before DUFFY, McNEILLY and QUILLEN, JJ.

McNEILLY, Justice:

John and Trudy Martin (hereinafter "claimants") applied for unemployment compensation benefits following termination of their employment with Globe Union Inc. (hereinafter "employer"). These applications were denied at all administrative levels on the grounds that claimants had been discharged from their employment for just cause in connection therewith pursuant to 19 Del.C. § 3315(2). ¹ Following the adverse decision by the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board (hereinafter "Board"), claimants appealed to the Superior Court which reversed the Board's denial of benefits. From this decision the employer appeals. We reverse.

As we read the decision below, the Superior Court accepted the Board's findings of fact as based on substantial evidence in the record, but reversed the Board's decision by holding as a matter of law that the facts did not warrant the conclusion that claimants were disqualified from benefits under § 3315(2). We agree that the administrative fact findings are supported by the record; therefore, we are bound by those findings on this appeal. Thus, the primary issue before this Court is whether the Superior Court erred in its application of § 3315(2) to the facts as found by the Board. Claimants also raise certain constitutional and evidentiary arguments relating to the administrative proceedings as alternative grounds on which the Superior Court's decision reversing the Board should be affirmed.

The facts found by the referee and adopted by the Board are as follows. Claimants, husband and wife, were employed as operators by Globe Union, Inc. At the time of the incident in question, John Martin had been thus employed for seventeen years, Trudy Martin for seven years. On July 17, 1979, claimants were scheduled to work from 7:00 A.M. to 3:30 P.M. Upon arriving for work, claimants informed their supervisor they had to leave at noon to attend to some personal business. The supervisor felt obligated to inquire further as to claimants' reasons for wanting to leave work early, as the employer's plant had recently been closed down by a strike and every effort was needed to get the plant back to full production. When the supervisor asked for a more specific reason, Mr. Martin replied that he did not have to be more specific than to say that he and his wife had personal business to transact. At this point the supervisor denied claimants' request for permission to leave early.

In spite of this initial denial, several more discussions concerning the Martins' request were held during the morning. These culminated in a meeting between claimants, a union representative who had interceded on their behalf, the supervisor and other higher officials at the plant. At this meeting claimants for the first time sought to clarify the reason for their request. However, their only explanation was that they had to go to the bank. Claimants did not attempt to explain why they had to go to the bank on that particular day during their scheduled working hours. Rather, claimants contended that they had a right to leave under the employer's liberal time off policy. Again permission to leave early was denied, and claimants were explicitly warned that their failure to remain at work through their scheduled shift would result in termination of their employment. Claimants left work at noon and failed to return to their jobs that day. Because claimants had been represented by the union during the morning's discussions and were explicitly warned of the consequences that would result from disobedience to the employer's order, management felt it had no alternative but to discharge claimants from their jobs.

Claimants were employed subject to the terms of a union negotiated collective bargaining agreement which contained no provision for personal time off during regular scheduled working hours. Also, a union sanctioned grievance procedure was available to employees who felt aggrieved by management decisions. Claimants did not submit their complaint regarding the refusal of permission to leave early to this procedure, choosing instead to ignore the employer's direct order and explicit warning. It does appear that, as a general policy, the employer tried to accommodate employee requests for personal time off for any number of reasons, including time off to go to the bank. Ultimately, however, decisions on such requests were always based on the employer's evaluation of its production needs as compared with the employees' stated reasons for requesting time off from scheduled working hours. The employer was not obligated to grant such requests and could deny them without any detailed explanation to the requesting employees. As for the specific incident here in issue, it appears that production at the employer's plant was suffering because some machines were not functioning properly, and the supervisor believed that claimants, with their significant experience, would be helpful in resolving the problems. These considerations, coupled with claimants' failure to substantiate an urgent or immediate need for time off to go to the bank, led to the decision to deny claimants' request. The Board specifically found that the employer's denial of claimants' request was not unreasonable.

Findings of fact were also made regarding the purpose underlying claimants' request. Claimants wanted to go to their bank in Sudlersville, Maryland, located a substantial distance from the employer's plant, to arrange for a loan. Apparently, the bank would have been closed on the day in question (a Tuesday) by the time claimants' scheduled shift had ended at 3:30 P.M. However, it would have been possible for claimants to go to the bank after their scheduled shift on the following Friday, as banks in the area remain open on Friday evenings. Claimants intended to use the loan proceeds to repay money previously borrowed from a personal friend. The friend had asked to be repaid as soon as possible, without specifying a particular date, since his mother had recently gone into a hospital for cancer treatment and he (the friend) had assumed financial responsibility for the medical expenses. Claimants believed this to be an urgent request and felt obligated to repay the friend as soon as possible, i. e., immediately. However, claimants never explained these background details to the employer in requesting time off. The referee and Board found that, while claimants may have subjectively believed this was an emergency situation requiring immediate action on their part, there was no real emergency necessitating...