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


JOHN T. NORTH, Employe

COUNTY OF LINCOLN, Employer

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE DECISION
Hearing No. 99001901WU


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, if otherwise qualified.

Dated and mailed October 28, 1999
northjo.usd : 164 : 1 : MC 610.25

/s/ David B. Falstad, Chairman

/s/ Pamela I. Anderson, Commissioner

James A. Rutkowski, Commissioner


MEMORANDUM OPINION

In the petition for commission review the employer argues that the employe's actions amounted to patient abuse, within the meaning of Wis. Admin. Code § DWD 132.05(2)(c), and that he should be denied benefits as a result. The commission disaagrees. The code section in question defines patient abuse as "any intentional act which subjects the patient to gross insult, ridicule or humiliation, or repeated failure to treat a patient with dignity and respect." While the employe's actions in drawing a tic-tac-toe board on a resident's arm may have been inappropriate, they were clearly undertaken in furtherance of a friendly relationship between the employe and the resident and were not meant to subject the resident to insult, ridicule or humiliation. Under all the circumstances, the commission believes that the employe's actions amounted to, at most, an isolated incident of poor judgment which cannot reasonably be characterized as patient abuse or deliberate misconduct, within the meaning of the law. Accordingly, the appeal tribunal decision is affirmed.

cc: ATTORNEY JAMES KAPPELMAN

TIM MEEHAN
C/O PINECREST NURSING HOME

ATTORNEY DEAN R DIETRICH
RUDER WARE & MICHLER SC


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