An Administrator's Guide to California Private School Law

Chapter 4 - Employment Contracts And Separation Of Employees

C. U NEMPLOYMENT I NSURANCE

1. E MPLOYEE E LIGIBILITY To be eligible for Unemployment Insurance, an employee must be out of work due to no fault of his or her own, physically able to work, and actively seeking and ready to accept work. 467 The individual also must have received enough wages during a base period of employment to establish a claim. 468 Individuals can apply for Unemployment Insurance as of the date they are no longer employed. An employee is not eligible for benefits if the school terminated employment due to misconduct. 469 Ironically, an employer’s definition of misconduct is different from the statutory definition of misconduct under the Unemployment Insurance Code. Under the Unemployment Insurance Code, misconduct exists if all of the following elements are met:  The employee owes a material duty to the employer;  There is a substantial breach of that duty;  The breach is a willful or wanton disregard of that duty; and  The breach disregards the employer’s interest and injures or tends to injure the employer’s interests. 470 Thus, the term “misconduct,” as used in the Unemployment Insurance Code, is limited to conduct that evinces a willful or wanton disregard of an employer’s interest such that the employee engaged in a deliberate violation or disregard of standards of behavior that the employer has a right to expect of his/her employee. Misconduct also includes careless or negligent behavior of such a degree or recurrence that the employee has an intentional or substantial disregard of the employer’s interests or of the employee’s duties and obligations to his employer. 471 The EDD determines whether an employee is eligible for Unemployment Insurance on a case-by-case basis.

Robles v. Employment Development Department (2012) 207 Cal.App.4th 1029 Jose Robles worked as a service technician for Liquid Environmental Solutions, which provided a $150 shoe allowance for employees to purchase safety shoes from a particular store. Robles brought a friend to the shoe store and asked the sales clerk to measure his friend’s shoe size because he intended to give his friend the shoes purchased with the allowance. Robles already owned safety shoes and his intent was to perform a noble gesture for his friend. When Robles’ supervisor indicated that the company did not approve of this gesture, Robles immediately expressed regret and assured the supervisor that he would comply with the company’s rules. He ultimately did not purchase the shoes. The company terminated Robles’ employment and he applied for unemployment benefits. The Employment Development Department (EDD) denied his request, concluding that Robles violated a reasonable rule. Robles appealed and both the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board and the

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