Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Commission --
Summary of Wisconsin
Court Decision relating to Unemployment Insurance
Subject: Richard R. Lochner v. LIRC and Saint Gobain Performance Plastics Corp., Case 02 CV 2814 (Wis. Cir. Ct., Dane Co., April 2, 2003)
Digest Codes: MC 666.01 MC 668
The employee worked for 11 years as a first-shift set up person for the
employer, a manufacturer of plastic medical devices. He also coordinated the
work performed by set-up workers on the second and third shifts. He was
receiving treatment for depression, and had presented the employer with a
medical excuse allowing him to leave work when his condition became acute. The
employer had routinely allowed him to take time off work pursuant to that
excuse, and in accordance with the Family Medical Leave Act.
The employee had become increasingly frustrated by the failure of co-workers on
the other two shifts to follow his written instructions for assignments. On
6/19/01, the employee was given a verbal warning because had a become upset with
a co-worker who had not completed an assignment. He had challenged the
co-worker to step outside to settle the matter by fighting. On 10/22/01, the
employee received a written warning for directing abusive language towards an
engineer with whom he had a disagreement concerning a job. On 2/8/02, the
employee became upset because the set-up persons on the other two shifts had
accomplished almost none of the assignments he had left for them the previous
day. He confronted the second-shift set up person when that individual arrived
for work, and when the employee became angry, another worker interceded and told
him to leave. The employee responded by challenging the worker to go outside and
“discuss” the matter, and when the worker refused to do this the employee
called him a “queer.” After the employer investigated this incident it
discharged the employee.
The appeal tribunal and the commission found misconduct and the employee
appealed and argued that his bad behavior had been caused by his depressive
disorder and therefore was not intentional. [LIRC
Decision]
Held: The finding of misconduct is affirmed. The question of whether the
employee's depressive disorder left him unable to control his behavior
required an expert medical opinion to answer. The only medical opinion submitted
by the employee indicated that he should be allowed to take time off work when
needed. It did not indicate that the employee was unable to control his
behavior, nor did it indicate that there was a causal link between the
depressive disorder and the way the employee acted on the dates in
question.
Appealed to the Court of Appeals. Affirmed November 26, 2003 (unpublished summary disposition).
Please note that this is a summary prepared by staff of the commission, not a verbatim reproduction of the court decision.
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