{
  "id": 2646082,
  "name": "STEVEN R. YELVERTON v. KEMP FURNITURE INDUSTRIES, INC., AND EMPLOYMENT SECURITY COMMISSION OF NORTH CAROLINA",
  "name_abbreviation": "Yelverton v. Kemp Furniture Industries, Inc.",
  "decision_date": "1981-03-17",
  "docket_number": "No. 808SC419",
  "first_page": "215",
  "last_page": "220",
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    "id": 14983,
    "name": "North Carolina Court of Appeals"
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    "name_long": "North Carolina",
    "name": "N.C."
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          "parenthetical": "willful violation of employer's rule prohibiting employees from changing the weights on their machines constituted misconduct"
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      "cite": "296 N.W. 636",
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      "cite": "237 Wis. 249",
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      "cite": "194 S.E. 2d 210",
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      "year": 1973,
      "pin_cites": [
        {
          "page": "212-213"
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        {
          "parenthetical": "refusing to follow employer's rule requiring employees to wear ear protective devices constituted misconduct"
        },
        {
          "page": "212-213"
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          "page": "343-344"
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          "parenthetical": "refusing to follow employer's rule requiring employees to wear ear protective devices constituted misconduct"
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      "cite": "263 S.E. 2d 1",
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        {
          "page": "3",
          "parenthetical": "violation of employer's policy establishing rotation system for truck drivers by refusing to make trip constituted misconduct"
        },
        {
          "page": "3"
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        {
          "page": "4"
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    {
      "cite": "44 N.C. App. 718",
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      "year": 1963,
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    {
      "cite": "259 N.C. 190",
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        8559687
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      "cite": "189 S.E. 2d 245",
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      "year": 1972,
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      "cite": "281 N.C. 598",
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  "analysis": {
    "cardinality": 483,
    "char_count": 11043,
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  "last_updated": "2023-07-14T20:24:29.581265+00:00",
  "provenance": {
    "date_added": "2019-08-29",
    "source": "Harvard",
    "batch": "2018"
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  "casebody": {
    "judges": [
      "Judges Clark and Webb concur."
    ],
    "parties": [
      "STEVEN R. YELVERTON v. KEMP FURNITURE INDUSTRIES, INC., AND EMPLOYMENT SECURITY COMMISSION OF NORTH CAROLINA"
    ],
    "opinions": [
      {
        "text": "WHICHARD, Judge.\nThe Commission made the following pertinent findings of fact:\n2. The claimant worked on the employer\u2019s furniture assembly line in the print line department as a helper. The claimant worked from 4:45 p.m. until 6:15 a.m.\n3. Approximately sixty feet away from the claimant\u2019s work station at the end of the furniture assembly line, Ricky Vick worked as the last man on the end of the line taking furniture off the line and then stacking the furniture.\n4. Ricky Vick had worked in the print line department, but approximately two weeks prior to the claimant\u2019s last day of work had been transferred to the end of the assembly line. After Mr. Vick\u2019s transfer, the claimant began teasing Mr. Vick about being moved to the end of the furniture assembly line.\n6. On the claimant\u2019s last day at work, the claimant approached Mr. Vick and st\u00e1ted that he was going to get Mr. Vick fired from his job and thereafter the claimant threatened Mr. Vick with bodily harm.\n8. After the twelve o\u2019clock break, the claimant, Mr. Vick, and [another employee] returned to their work stations. Shortly thereafter, the claimant stated to [the other employee] that he was going out and harass Mr. Vick some more. The claimant left his work area and did not return.\n9. The claimant proceded to the tail end of the assembly line, and a co-worker heard the claimant and Mr. Vick arguing. The co-worker observed the claimant pick up a wooden post from a truck cart which was used to transport various materials. The claimant then put the wooden post on the truck cart and the co-worker \u201cheard a lick,\u201d looked around and saw the claimant fall to the floor. Another co-worker observed Mr. Vick holding a wooden post and thereafter observed Mr. Vick strike the claimant on the head with the wooden post.\n10. Mr. Vick and the claimant were discharged from their employment for violation of an employer policy which states that employees who are involved in fights and use or threaten to use any kind of weapon will be discharged.\nThese findings of fact are supported by competent evidence in the record. Therefore, they are conclusive on appeal. G.S. 96-4(m); G.S. 96-15(i); In re Thomas, 281 N.C. 598, 189 S.E. 2d 245 (1972); In re Abernathy, 259 N.C. 190, 130 S.E. 2d 292 (1963); In re Cantrell, 44 N.C. App. 718, 263 S.E. 2d 1 (1980). The sole question presented by this appeal, then, is whether these findings of fact sustain the Commission\u2019s conclusion that claimant was disqualified from receiving unemployment compensation benefits by virtue of G.S. 96-14, which provides, in pertinent part, as follows:\nAn individual shall be disqualified for benefits:\n(2) ... if it is determined by the Commission that such individual is, at the time such claim is filed, unemployed because he was discharged for misconduct connected with his work.\nG.S. 96-14 (Supp. 1979).\nIn determining whether facts found constitute \u201cmisconduct\u201d within the intent of G.S. 96-14(2), this Court has quoted with approval the following definition:\n***[T]he term \u201cmisconduct\u201d [in connection with one\u2019s work] is limited to conduct evincing such wilful or wanton disregard of an employer\u2019s interest as is found in deliberate violations or disregard of standards of behavior which the employer has the right to expect of his employee, or in carelessness or negligence of such degree or recurrence as to manifest equal culpability, wrongful intent or evil design, or to show an intentional and substantial disregard of the employer\u2019s interests or of the employee\u2019s duties and obligations to his employer.***\nIn re Collingsworth, 17 N.C. App. 340, 343-344, 194 S.E. 2d 210, 212-213 (1973), quoting Boynton Cab Co. v. Neubeck, 237 Wis. 249, 296 N.W. 636 (1941). This Court also has stated that \u201cwhere the claimant is discharged because he willingly and knowingly violates a reasonable rule of his employer, the claimant is disqualified\u201d from receiving benefits. Cantrell, 44 N.C. App. at 721, 263 S.E. 2d at 3 (violation of employer\u2019s policy establishing rotation system for truck drivers by refusing to make trip constituted misconduct). See also In re Stutts, 245 N.C. 405, 95 S.E. 2d 919 (1957) (willful violation of employer\u2019s rule prohibiting employees from changing the weights on their machines constituted misconduct); In re Collingsworth, 17 N.C. App. 340, 194 S.E. 2d 210 (1973) (refusing to follow employer\u2019s rule requiring employees to wear ear protective devices constituted misconduct).\nThe Commission here found as a fact that the employer had adopted a policy \u201cthat employees who are involved in fights and use or threaten to use any kind of weapon will be discharged.\u201d It also found that \u201cthe claimant threatened [a fellow employee] with bodily harm\u201d and that \u201ca co-worker heard the claimant and [the fellow employee] arguing ... [and] observed the claimant pick up a wooden post____\u201d Finally, it found that claimant was discharged for violation of the employer\u2019s policy \u201cwhich states that employees who are involved in fights and use or threaten to use any kind of weapon will be discharged.\u201d On the basis of these findings the Commission concluded that claimant was discharged for \u201cmisconduct connected with his work\u201d within the intent of G.S. 96-14(2). The Commission stated, in its Memorandum of Law, that \u201cthe claimant chose a course of action which was in complete disregard of the employer\u2019s best interest and represented a disregard of standards of behavior which the employer has a right to expect of his employee.\u201d\nWe note that the findings do not support a conclusion that claimant \u201cwillingly and knowingly violate[d] a reasonable rule of his employer,\u201d Cantrell, 44 N.C. App. at 721, 263 S.E. 2d at 3, because the Commission failed to find that claimant had knowledge of the policy he was found to have violated. The definition approved in Collingsworth, however, permitted the Commission to find misconduct and thus to deny benefits, not only for \u201cdeliberate violations or disregard of standards of behavior which the employer ha[d] the right to expect,\u201d but also for \u201ccarelessness or negligence of such degree or recurrence as to manifest equal culpability, wrongful intent or evil design, or to show an intentional and substantial disregard of the employer\u2019s interests or of the employee\u2019s duties and obligations to his employer.\u201d Collingsworth, 17 N.C. App. at 343-344, 194 S.E. 2d at 212-213. The employer here had a substantial interest in the preservation of a peaceful atmosphere in the workplace; in having its employees perform their assigned tasks rather than harass their fellow employees; in not having its employees diverted from their assigned tasks by the harassment of fellow employees; and in not having its employees risk debilitating injuries at the hands of fellow employees. The claimant\u2019s actions in (1) threatening a fellow employee with bodily harm, (2) leaving his assigned work area for the avowed purpose of going to another work area to harass a fellow employee, and (3) picking up a wooden post in the course of an argument with the fellow employee, were sufficient to constitute \u201can intentional and substantial disregard of the employer\u2019s interests.\u201d They thus constituted \u201cmisconduct connected with his work\u201d sufficient to disqualify him from receiving unemployment compensation benefits. We therefore reverse the judgment of the superior court and reinstate the decision of the Employment Security Commission which disqualifies claimant from receiving unemployment compensation benefits. See Cantrell, 44 N.C. App. at 723, 263 S.E. 2d at 4.\nReversed.\nJudges Clark and Webb concur.\nThe following evidence in the record would have supported such a finding:\nQ.....Mr. Yelverton, were you aware of a policy that if a weapon was used to threaten another employee that the employee doing the threatening would be discharged?\nA. Yes.",
        "type": "majority",
        "author": "WHICHARD, Judge."
      }
    ],
    "attorneys": [
      "Robert S. Cahoon, for claimant appellee.",
      "Johnson, Patterson, Dilthey and Clay, by Ronald C. Dilthey, for respondent-appellant Kemp Furniture Industries, Incorporated.",
      "V. Henry Gransee, Jr., for respondent-appellant Employment Security Commission of North Carolina."
    ],
    "corrections": "",
    "head_matter": "STEVEN R. YELVERTON v. KEMP FURNITURE INDUSTRIES, INC., AND EMPLOYMENT SECURITY COMMISSION OF NORTH CAROLINA\nNo. 808SC419\n(Filed 17 March 1981)\nMaster and Servant \u00a7 108.1- misconduct connected with employee\u2019s work - no right to unemployment compensation benefits\nClaimant\u2019s actions in threatening a fellow employee with bodily harm, leaving his assigned work area for the avowed purpose of going to another work area to harass a fellow employee, and picking up a wooden post in the course of an argument with the fellow employee were sufficient to constitute an intentional and substantial disregard of the employer\u2019s interest, and they thus constituted \u201cmisconduct connected with his work\u201d within the meaning of G.S. 96-14 sufficient to disqualify him from receiving unemployment compensation benefits.\nAppeal by respondents, Kemp Furniture Industries, Inc. (employer) and the Employment Security Commission of North Carolina (Commission) from Rouse, Judge. Judgment entered 24 December 1979 in Superior Court, Wayne, County. Heard in the Court of Appeals 16 October 1980.\nClaimant, a print operator employed by respondent employer, was discharged from employment following an incident in which he allegedly threatened to hit another employee with a wooden post. Subsequent to his discharge, claimant filed with respondent Commission for unemployment compensation benefits.\nThe Claims Adjudicator determined that claimant was not \u201cdischarged for misconduct connected with his work,\u201d G.S. 96-14(2) (Supp. 1979), and that he thus was not disqualified from receiving benefits. The Appeals Referee affirmed that decision. On appeal by the employer from that decision, the Commission vacated and remanded. After further hearing the Appeals Referee issued supporting findings and memoranda and again affirmed the decision of the Claims Adjudicator that claimant was not disqualified from receiving benefits. The employer again appealed to the Commission. The Commission concluded that claimant \u201cwas discharged from his employment ... for misconduct connected with his work\u201d and was therefore disqualified from receiving benefits until he removed the disqualification by a method provided in G.S. 96-14(10).\nClaimant appealed the Commission\u2019s decision to the superior court, which entered judgment, in pertinent part, as follows:\nUpon a careful examination of the entire record ... this Court concludes that the evidence ... does not support a finding or a conclusion that the claimant ... was discharged from his employment for misconduct connected with his work, and that the findings of fact ... do not support a conclusion that the claimant ... was discharged for misconduct connected with his work.\nThe respondents appeal from the court\u2019s judgment reversing the decision of the Commission, thereby holding claimant not to be disqualified, on account of misconduct connected with his work, from receiving unemployment compensation benefits.\nRobert S. Cahoon, for claimant appellee.\nJohnson, Patterson, Dilthey and Clay, by Ronald C. Dilthey, for respondent-appellant Kemp Furniture Industries, Incorporated.\nV. Henry Gransee, Jr., for respondent-appellant Employment Security Commission of North Carolina."
  },
  "file_name": "0215-01",
  "first_page_order": 243,
  "last_page_order": 248
}
