Summary
The Ohio Supreme Court held that a workers’ compensation claimant was disqualified from receiving temporary total disability compensation after being fired for violating a known written workplace rule prohibiting sexually inappropriate conduct. Because the termination was deemed voluntary under the Louisiana-Pacific standard and the claimant was not later removed from other employment by the industrial injury, the court affirmed denial of compensation.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the Industrial Commission abused its discretion by denying temporary total disability compensation after the claimant was fired for violating a known written work rule.
- Whether the claimant's firing constituted a voluntary departure under State ex rel. Louisiana-Pacific Corp. v. Indus. Comm., thereby barring temporary total disability compensation.
Holdings
- A firing is treated as a voluntary departure when it is generated by the claimant's violation of a written work rule or policy that clearly defines the prohibited conduct, identifies the conduct as dischargeable, and was known or should have been known to the employee.
Key quotations
“Louisiana-Pacific Corp. v. Indus. Comm. (1995), 72 Ohio St.3d 401, 403, 650 N.E.2d 469, deemed a voluntary departure a firing that was ‘generated by the claimant’s violation of a written work rule or policy that (1) clearly defined the prohibited "conduct, (2) had been previously identified by the employer as. a dischargeable offense, and (3) was known or should have been known to the employee.’” (¶ 7)
Factual background
Ronald J. Hammer was a security officer who acknowledged receiving an employee handbook prohibiting sexually inappropriate comments and gestures and warning that violations could result in discharge. After receiving a warning for violating that rule, Hammer suffered a work-related shoulder injury, returned to work, and was fired for a second incident of inappropriate comments. His workers' compensation claim was allowed, but after subsequent shoulder surgery the Industrial Commission denied temporary total disability compensation because the firing was treated as a voluntary departure.
Procedural history
After the Industrial Commission denied temporary total disability compensation on the ground that the claimant's firing was a voluntary departure under State ex rel. Louisiana-Pacific Corp. v. Indus. Comm., the claimant filed a mandamus action in the Franklin County Court of Appeals. That court denied the writ, and the Supreme Court of Ohio affirmed.