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Grieb v. Unemployment Compensation Board Of Review1/26/2001
SUBMITTED: DECEMBER 6, 2000
Karen Grieb (Claimant) petitions for review of the decision of the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review (Board) which affirmed the referee's denial of benefits under Section 402(e) of the Unemployment Compensation Law (Law).
The facts, as found by the Board, are as follows:
1. The claimant was last employed as a health and physical education teacher by the State College Area School District in a part-time capacity (4 days per week) at $7.40 per hour and had been so employed from 1985 and her last day of work was October 18, 1999.
2. The employer 's policy, of which the claimant was aware, prohibits possessions of weapons and replicas of weapons in any school district building or on school property.
3. On September 15, 1999, the claimant violated the employer 's weapons policy by transporting three shotguns onto school property.
4. The three shotguns were visible in the backseat of the claimant's 1991 Ford Taurus as such automobile was parked on school property and the contents therein were visible to passers by .
5. The claimant is suspended without pay due to violation of the employer 's weapon policy.
6. The claimant asserts that she was moving her residence and that is the reason the guns were in her car.
Board Decision, February 11, 2000, at 1-2; Reproduced Record (R.R.) at 6a-7a.
The Board determined that Claimant was aware of State College Area School District's (Employer) policy which prohibited the possession of weapons on Employer 's property and violated it without cause when she brought the three shotguns onto Employer's property in the car she drove to work on September 15, 1999.
Claimant contends that the Board erred when it determined she committed willful misconduct when she inadvertently drove her car onto Employer 's property at a time when it contained the three shotguns.
Whether a claimant's conduct rises to the level of willful misconduct is a question of law subject to our review. Lee Hospital v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 589 A.2d 297 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1991). The employer bears the burden of proving that it discharged an employee for willful misconduct. City of Beaver Falls v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 441 A.2d 510 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1982). Willful misconduct is defined as conduct that represents a wanton and willful disregard of an employer's interest, deliberate violation of rules, disregard of standards of behavior which an employee can rightfully expect from his employee, or negligence which manifests culpability, wrongful intent, evil design, or intentional and substantial disregard for the employer's interest or employee's duties and obligations. Frick v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 375 A.2d 879 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1977). The employer bears the burden of proving the existence of the work rule and its violation. Once the employer establishes that, the burden then shifts to the claimant to prove that the violation was for good cause. Peak v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 509 Pa. 267, 501 A.2d 1383 (1985).
Initially, Claimant contends that Employer 's policy on weapons only applied to students and not to staff. The Board found that the policy prohibited the possession of weapons on Employer's property. A review of the policy reveals that the prohibition is not limited to students, even though the disciplinary portion of the policy only addressed the discipline of students and not staff. The Board's finding that Employer possessed a weapons policy that applied to Claimant is supported by substantial evidence.
Claimant next co
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