Court Holds Employee Properly Terminated For Refusing To Sign Disciplinary Form
The California Court of Appeals recently ruled that an employee who refused to sign a disciplinary action form was properly terminated and was not eligible for unemployment insurance benefits.
The facts of the case were simple enough. The employee was called into a meeting with his supervisor and human resources for a violation of company policy. The employee, a union member, demanded that he be permitted to have a union representative present with him during the meeting. The employer denied the request and as a result the employee refused to sign the disciplinary form. The employer in response informed the employee that if he did not sign the form that he would be terminated. The employee for a second time informed the employer that he would not sign the form and as a result the employee was terminated for insubordination.
The employee filed for unemployment insurance benefits and based upon the above noted facts was denied benefits by the Employment Development Department and by an Administrative Law Judge at a subsequent hearing. The employee appealed to the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board (CUIAB) who reversed the prior decisions and found the employee eligible because in their opinion the employee’s failure to sign was, at most, a good faith error in judgment. A subsequent Superior Court appeal by the employer reversed the decision of the CUIAB holding that the employee’s failure to sign the memo violated his obligations to the employer under California Labor Code Section 2856 which states “An employee shall subsequently comply with all the directions of his employer concerning the service on which he is engaged, except where such obedience is impossible or unlawful, or would impose new and unreasonable burdens upon the employee.”
Furthermore, under Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations, Section 1256-36, subdivision (b) provides: “Implicit in the agreement of hire is the concept that an employee is subject to some degree of authority exercised by the employer or the employer’s representative. An employee is insubordinate if he or she intentionally disregards the employer’s interest and willfully violates the standard of behavior which an employer may rightfully expect of employees if the employee refuses, without justification, to comply with the lawful and reasonable orders of the employer or the employer’s representative.”
The employee argued he was afraid to sign the memo because it would be an admission of guilt however, the language under the signature clearly stated the signing of the memo was not an admission of guilt but was just an acknowledgement of having received the memo. The court sided with the employer.
Employers would do well to have their disciplinary notices include language that signing the memo/disciplinary notice is not an admission of guilt but is simply an acknowledgement that they have received the document. Furthermore, although this case was upheld as a proper termination for insubordination for the employee having refused to sign the document, it is still recommended that employers review terminations with their respective counsel or consultants prior to such termination.
