BEFORE THE
STATE OF WISCONSIN
LABOR AND INDUSTRY REVIEW COMMISSION

In the matter of the unemployment benefit claim of

BARBARA A. STRANGEWAY, Employee

Involving the account of

DALLAS HEALTH & REHABILITATION CENTER, Employer

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE DECISION
Hearing No. 89-200536 RL


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.

DECISION

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

MEMORANDUM OPINION

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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