STATE OF WISCONSIN
LABOR AND INDUSTRY REVIEW COMMISSION
P O BOX 8126, MADISON, WI 53708-8126 (608/266-9850)

WILLIAM H CHAVIS, Employee

UTI INTEGRATED LOGISTICS INC, Employer

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE DECISION
Hearing No. 07600494RC


An administrative law judge (ALJ) for the Division of Unemployment Insurance of the Department of Workforce Development issued a decision in this matter. A timely petition for review was filed.

The commission has considered the petition and the positions of the parties, and it has reviewed the evidence submitted to the ALJ. Based on its review, the commission agrees with the decision of the ALJ, and it adopts the findings and conclusion in that decision as its own.

DECISION

The decision of the administrative law judge is affirmed. Accordingly, the employee is ineligible for benefits beginning in week 51 of 2006, and until seven weeks have elapsed since the end of the week of discharge and the employee has earned wages in covered employment performed after the week of discharge equaling at least 14 times the employee's weekly benefit rate which would have been paid had the discharge not occurred.

Dated and mailed April 27, 2007
chaviwi . usd : 135 : 1   MC 651.1

/s/ James T. Flynn, Chairman

/s/ Robert Glaser, Commissioner

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Because consuming alcohol is a legal activity, the commission requires that the employer meet a burden of establishing a work related reason for the regulation of this type of off duty conduct. In Blanke v. Weyerhaeuser Co., UI Decision Hearing No. 98402329MN (LIRC February 18, 1999), the commission held that while an employer does have a right to regulate off duty conduct, in order for the violation of a work rule relating to off duty conduct to constitute misconduct, the rule must bear a reasonable relationship to the employer's interests. See also Gregory v. Anderson, 14 Wis. 2d 130, 137, 109 N.W.2d 675 (1961).

Here, the employer established that its rule bore a reasonable relationship to its interests. The employee's job duties included operating a forklift. In this case, the employer had a legitimate interest in wanting the employee to report to work without alcohol in his system, especially when operating a forklift. Finally, the employee was aware of the employer's zero tolerance acknowledging it in writing. Therefore, the record supports the conclusion that the employee's discharge was for misconduct connected with his employment within the meaning of Wis. Stat. § 108.04(5).



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