Woolridge v. Labor and Indus. Relations Com'n of Missouri

• Decision Date: 07 December 1982
• Docket Number: No. WD,WD
• Parties: Roland L. WOOLRIDGE, Appellant, v. The LABOR AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS COMMISSION OF MISSOURI, and the Missouri Division of Employment Security, and Chem-Trol, Inc., Respondents. 33632.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

Page 317

643 S.W.2d 317

Roland L. WOOLRIDGE, Appellant, v. The LABOR AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS COMMISSION OF MISSOURI, and the Missouri Division of Employment Security, and Chem-Trol, Inc., Respondents.

No. WD 33632.

Missouri Court of Appeals,

Western District.

Dec. 7, 1982.

David Kite, Jefferson City, for appellant.

Larry R. Ruhmann, Rick V. Morris, Jefferson City, for Missouri Div. of Employment Sec.

Timothy P. Duggan, Jefferson City, for Labor and Indus. Relations Com'n of Missouri.

Before NUGENT, P.J., and TURNAGE and LOWENSTEIN, JJ.

TURNAGE, Judge.

Roland L. Woolridge appeals the denial of his claim for unemployment benefits. The claim was denied by a deputy's determination, and this was affirmed by an appeals tribunal of the Division of Employment Security. Because an application for review was denied by the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission, the decision of the appeals tribunal is deemed to be the decision of the Commission according to § 288.200.1 ¹. The circuit court affirmed the decision. Affirmed in part and reversed in part.

Woolridge lived near Fayette, Missouri, and was employed by Chem-Trol, Inc., in Fayette for about seven weeks in the spring of 1979. Woolridge had been placed on parole by the circuit court following a criminal conviction, and in June of 1979, he was ordered by the circuit court and his parole officer to move from his home near Fayette to a halfway house in Columbia.

Because he did not have a drivers license and his home was only two miles from the job site, Woolridge was provided with transportation to and from work by the company while he lived near Fayette. When Woolridge was ordered to move to Columbia, his employer informed him that it could not provide transportation for that distance. Woolridge could not find transportation from Columbia to Fayette, and as a result quit his job. It is admitted that Woolridge would have remained employed had he continued to reside near Fayette.

Woolridge contends that he did not leave his employment voluntarily, but left only because he was forced to move to Columbia, and was unable to obtain transportation back and forth to Fayette. Under § 288.050.1, Woolridge was disqualified from receiving benefits until he had earned wages equal to ten times his weekly benefit amount if it was determined that he left his work voluntarily without good cause attributable to his work or to his employer. ²

Thus, the question becomes whether or not the lack of transportation to a job constitutes good cause for leaving that job involuntarily, and whether such cause is attributable to the work or the employer. While no Missouri cases have addressed this precise issue, it has been addressed in other jurisdictions. In Tackett v. Administrator, Unemployment Compensation Act, 29 Conn.Sup. 251, 282 A.2d 582-83 (1971), the court stated:

In the matter at bar, the only reason for the plaintiff's unemployment is her lack of transportation to and from work. She had a job available to her. The lack of transportation to enable her to report to her available job was due to her own personal circumstances. It was her own personal problem and responsibility to make herself available to the labor market. Her lack of transportation may be a good personal cause for her leaving her job, but it was not due to any "cause connected with * * * [h...