Wednesday, January 27, 2010

UC - willful misconduct - remoteness doctrine

Rich Carbide Burs, Inc. v. UCBR - Cmwlth Court - January 22, 2010 - unreported memorandum decision
The employer did not violate the remoteness doctrine by waiting from Thursday to the next Tuesday to fire the claimant for misconduct, because there was no substantial delay between the alleged act and the termination.
Where “there is an unexplained substantial delay between the claimant’s misconduct and the employer’s act to terminate the claimant, the remoteness doctrine will preclude an employer from seeking a denial of benefits based on allegations of willful misconduct.” Raimondi v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 863 A.2d 1242, 1247 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2004) (emphasis in original). In the case at bar, the three-day delay between the altercation and Claimant’s discharge was, by any measure, insubstantial.