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Van Buren man deserves jobless benefits, court rules Thursday, Apr 6, 2006 By Rob Moritz Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - A former Wal-Mart employee who was fired for misconduct after refusing to publicly accept a 10-year service award qualifies for unemployment benefits, the state Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday. The appeals court reversed Arkansas Board of Review, which denied benefits to Travis Chaney of Van Buren. Chaney was a department manager at the Wal-Mart Superstore in Van Buren. Last year, he was fired after twice refusing to step forward when the store manager called him to accept his 10-year service award during a regularly scheduled morning meeting. Later, the store manager met with the district manager and Chaney was fired. The appeals court record showed that at a review hearing, the store manager testified that Chaney's actions "put (me) in a very awkward position in front of the other associates in the store by not giving me the courtesy to come up front to receive his award, which is what we have done for every other associate that reaches those milestones." The manager said Chaney's actions showed a lack of respect for a superior. After his firing, Chaney sought unemployment benefits but his request was denied. The Arkansas Board of Review, which hears appeals from the Department of Workforce Services, declined to award the benefits, saying that Chaney was fired for misconduct connected with work. The Court of Appeals reversed the decision. The court said that meeting the statutory definition of misconduct requires more than mere inefficiency, unsatisfactory conduct, failure in good performance as the result of inability or incapacity, inadvertencies, ordinary negligence in isolated instances or good-faith errors in judgment or discretion. "Here, (Chaney) was terminated for failure to come forward and accept his 10-year service award. Such a failure standing alone does not amount to misconduct in connection with his work," the court said in a unanimous opinion. |
