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


RICHARD A McNEW, Employe

RED D MIX CONCRETE INC, Employer

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE DECISION
Hearing No. 98401970GB


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 employe is eligible for benefits beginning in week 29 of 1998, if otherwise qualified.

Dated and mailed August 25, 1999
mcnewri.usd : 132 : 1  VL 1080.22

/s/ David B. Falstad, Chairman

Pamela I. Anderson, Commissioner

/s/ James A. Rutkowski, Commissioner


MEMORANDUM OPINION

The employer has petitioned for commission review of the adverse appeal tribunal decision which found the employe voluntarily terminated his employment with good cause attributable to the employer. The commission has reviewed the record in this matter and agrees with the appeal tribunal's Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law. It took the employer in excess of two weeks to address the employe's reasonable concerns regarding the condition of the brakes on the vehicle he was assigned to drive. The responses the employe received from the mechanic, the individual who was responsible for insuring the reliability and safety of the vehicle that he was driving, was that the mechanic would get to it when he got to it. He submitted two written work order requests to the president and received no response. Thereafter, he was promised that the brakes would be looked at and were not. The employe need not demonstrate that his life is in immediate and eminent danger. The employe need only demonstrate that he brought a reasonable safety issue to the employer's attention and that the employer did not address that issue in a reasonable amount of time or in a reasonable manner. Considering the employer's 1997 failure to address a safety issue relating to its vehicle, the employer's repeated failure to address the employe's concerns regarding the brakes on the vehicle he was driving in 1998, provided the employe with good cause attributable to the employer for quitting his employment. For these reasons, and for the reasons set forth in the appeal tribunal decision, the commission affirms that decision.

cc: ATTORNEY FRANK W KOWALKOWSKI
WANEZEK UMENTUM & JAEKELS SC


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