An
employee's sarcastic comments about a supervisor did not violate a work rule
against insubordination where
a) the comments were made in a
private writing to senior management, and not directed to the supervisor
himself
b)
the claimant's comments were sarcastic and not "insubordinate"
– as defined in the dictionary
c) claimant's comments concerned the
supervisor's decisions concerning a behavior plan for a group home resident
with serious mental health problems
"
Insubordination may be found where an employee speaks to a superior in an
abusive, vulgar or offensive way. The actual language used by Claimant does not
meet any of those descriptions. Claimant’s two statements were sarcastic, but they were not directed to his supervisor.
For an employer to forbid sarcasm in the workplace under any circumstances,
there must be an explicit rule. In itself, the use of sarcasm cannot be equated
to insubordination or any other kind of willful misconduct."
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