In the matter of the unemployment benefit claim of
BARBARA A. STRANGEWAY, Employee
Involving the account of
DALLAS HEALTH & REHABILITATION CENTER, Employer
Pursuant to the timely petition for review filed in the above-captioned matter, the Commission has considered the petition and all relief requested. The Commission has reviewed the applicable records and evidence and finds that the Appeal Tribunal's findings of fact and conclusions of law are supported thereby. The Commission therefore adopts the findings and conclusions of the Appeal Tribunal as its own.
The decision of the Appeal Tribunal is affirmed. Accordingly, the employe is eligible for benefits as of week 15 of 1989, if she is otherwise qualified.
Dated and mailed August 31, 1989
110 - CD1002 VL 1080.12
/s/ Kevin C. Potter, Chairman
/s/ Carl W. Thompson, Commissioner
/s/ Pamela I. Anderson, Commissioner
In its petition for Commission review, the employer asserts that it showed that the
employe was refusing to work with or to spend any time with the administrator and
was fighting any change or directive that the administrator tried to influence. Based
on its careful review of the record, however, the Commission finds itself in
agreement with the Administrative Law Judge that the employe voluntarily
terminated her employment with good cause attributable to the employing unit.
After a staff meeting at which representatives of the employer expressed an interest
in moving a nursing home resident to another room in order to allow the room to be
used for a couple who were prospective new residents, and after the employe
properly reminded those present of the rules governing nursing homes that
prohibited changing residents' rooms merely for the convenience of the institution
and without consent of the resident or a medical indication in favor of moving the
resident, the employe discovered that the employer had moved the resident's room
later that very same day. After observing that the resident was expressing
dissatisfaction with the move, the employe notified the employer's social worker that
the move was improper and that the nursing department should have been alerted.
Thereafter, the employe was chastised by the administrator for opposing the
employer's conduct in moving the resident, and she was further instructed that in
the future both she and her staff were expected to support the nursing home in
making such moves. In this respect, the administrator's actions were tantamount to
a request, suggestion or directive by the employing unit that the employe violate
Wisconsin Law, within the meaning of section 108.04 (7)(b), Stats., since the
Wisconsin Administrative Rules relating to the moving of residents within an
institution have the force of law. The employe's decision, that she had no alternative
in the face of this directive but to voluntarily terminate her employment, was with
good cause within the meaning of section 108.04 (7)(b), Stats.
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