Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Commission --
Summary of Wisconsin Court Decision relating to Unemployment Insurance


Subject: Florine L. Roth v. LIRC and Wisconsin Youth Co Inc., Case 02 CV 00409 (Wis. Cir. Ct., Milwaukee Co., August 5, 2002)

full text available here

Digest Codes: VL 1005.01   VL 1080.09   VL 1080.20

The employee, who worked as the assistant to the regional director of a child care program business, quit her job because she had developed a bad relationship with a co-worker and her immediate supervisor. At hearing after an initial determination found no good cause for quitting, she argued that she had been systematically harassed into quitting, but the ALJ rejected this argument., noting that while the employee had some valid complaints about the way she had been treated by her immediate supervisor, the employer's higher management had been attempting to address that problem, having put that supervisor on disciplinary probation and having then decided to discharge her on the very day the employee quit. The employee did not provide her employer adequate notice that she was contemplating quitting, thus failing to provide it with the opportunity to take further steps to address the employee's concerns. LIRC affirmed this decision, and the employee appealed. 

Held: Affirmed. According great weight deference to the commission's decision, the court concludes that the findings of fact support the decision, noting particularly the findings of fact that the employer was taking action to address the employee's concerns, and that the employee failed to tell the employer that she was contemplating quitting. Finally, the court rejects the employee's arguments that the ALJ acted improperly by not considering certain evidence she offered. The ALJ provided the employee every opportunity to present her case, but properly excluded irrelevant evidence. There was also no evidence in the record supporting the employee's claim that the ALJ told the employee that her claim would be denied if she took too long in her presentation. 


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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