UI: Rule Violation

The Board reversed the Review Examiner’s decision, finding that there was no evidence that the claimant was aware when he contacted his wife, another employee, at the workplace to discuss their divorce matter that it was against the employer’s rules or policies.  The Board also…

Temporary help firm employee was not disqualified under G.L. c. 151A, § 25(e), where the claimant requested a new assignment well before she filed a claim for unemployment benefits.   

Where the claimant refused to sign a memo concerning the employer’s time card because she believed there was an error regarding her time worked on her paycheck, the Board of Review ruled the employer discharged the claimant, but the discharge was not for knowing violation of a reasonably and…

Board of Review decision holding that "mere presence of  marijuana in the system may not form the basis for denying unemployment benefits," The marijuana decriminalization statute, G.L. c. 94C, section 32L, expressly states that possession of one ounce or less of marijuana shall…

In the absence of other evidence of illegal drug use, the employer does not satisfy its burden of proving misconduct or a violation of its drug policy unless the drug test comports with federal government standards.  Advocate: Greater Boston Legal Services 

The claimant was not disqualified from receiving UI because the employer's alcohol policy did not provide notice to the claimant that failing an alcohol test would subject him to termination.The Board found that the claimant was initially given a disciplinary suspension for failing a random…

The employer failed to establish that a policy prohibiting employees from reporting to work with "any amount" of alcohol or illegal drugs in the employee's system was reasonable, where the record contained no evidence indicating that the claimant's off-duty use affected the…

The employer's rules prohibited reporting for work with an "illegal drug in the employee's system, in any amount." The claimant smoked marijuana on a day off and was discharged for testing positive for marijuana on a urinalysis administered at work the following day. She was the only known violator…

Board reversed R/E ruling that claimant was discharged for rule violation.  Board reversed on the ground that the employer did not adequately prove that the claimant was intoxicated at work (but note that there were contradictory findings). The employer rule was that any positive test…

This case involved a LPN who was discharged by a nursing home for reporting to work intoxicated by drugs. A screen showed marijuana, cocaine, Klonopin and Adivan in her bloodstream. She did not have a current prescription for the medications. They were left-overs from a past prescription given to…