Time and Attendance Violation Disqualifies Secy From Receiving Unemployment

As readers of this blog know, an employee terminated for "miscondut" is not eligible for unemployment. The question becomes what is misconduct. Matter of Cuccia, ___A.D.3d___(3rd Dept. Oct. 23, 2008) holds that a secy terminate for being late, after being warned, was fired for misconduct and thus not eligible for unemployment. As the court stated:

In any event, even if we were to consider the underlying merits of the Board's November 2007 denial of claimant's application for benefits, we would find no reason to disturb its decision. We note that continued lateness, despite prior warnings, has been held to constitute disqualifying misconduct (see Matter of Van Beek [Commissioner of Labor], 32 AD3d 622 [2006]; Matter of Dintino [Commissioner of Labor], 21 AD3d 1151, 1152 [2005]). In the case at hand, the employer's representatives testified that claimant continued to arrive late to work even though she had been previously warned that her job was in jeopardy if her punctuality problems persisted. Accordingly, substantial evidence supports the Board's finding that claimant's employment was terminated due to misconduct.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein