Ohio: Violation of Attendance Rule Amounts to Abandonment of Employment; No TTD Benefits

The Supreme Court of Ohio, affirming a decision of a lower appellate court, held that a claimant’s termination from employment for violating the written attendance policy in her union contract was evidence of voluntary abandonment of her employment that justified the Industrial Commission’s order denying TTD compensation where the claimant was aware of the attendance policy, had a history of attendance problems prior to her industrial injury, was warned of the number of points she had accumulated, was aware that she was close to the mandatory number of points for discharge, and did not provide any contemporaneous medical evidence to establish that her absences or tardiness were caused by her industrial injury. She argued that the employer had the burden to prove that she voluntarily and intentionally engaged in misconduct that she knew would result in her discharge. Getting sick and having a flat tire did not so qualify, argued the claimant. The high court disagreed, indicating that as the court of appeals concluded, the burden of proof was on the employer to establish that the claimant violated a written-work rule she knew or should have known would result in her termination. The employer did just that.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is a leading commentator and expert on the law of workers’ compensation.

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance. Bracketed citations link to lexis.com.

See Parraz v. Diamond Crystal Brands, Inc., 2014-Ohio–4260; 2014 Ohio LEXIS 2506 (Oct. 2, 2014) [2014-Ohio-4260; 2014 Ohio LEXIS 2506 (Oct. 2, 2014)]

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 84.04 [84.04]

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law.

For more information about LexisNexis products and solutions connect with us through our corporate site

_______________________________________________