In Lowery v. Workforce Appeals Board, a tattoo parlor, Happy Valley Tattoo, claiming to be a religious entity affiliated with UBU Ministries that “considered tattooing to be one of its core religious tenets,” asserted that it was exempt from Utah’s unemployment insurance statutes. Acknowledging that such an exemption exists, the Utah Court of Appeals held […]
On July 29, 2011, the Utah Court of Appeals upheld a Workforce Appeals Board determination that an employee who failed to follow his work schedule was not terminated for just cause and was, therefore eligible for unemployment. In Prosper Team, Inc. v. Department of Workforce Services, the Utah Court of Appeals stated that, although it […]
In McLeod v. Retirement Board, the Utah Court of Appeals refused to reverse the Utah State Retirement Board’s decision that a Davis County sheriff deputy’s “retirement benefits from two periods of public employment must be calculated separately.” The Court disagreed that the plain language of the statute required the Board to treat the two separate periods as […]
In Stampin’ Up, Inc. v. Labor Commission, the Utah Court of Appeals affirmed the Labor Commission’s finding that an employee was entitled to temporary disability benefits after he was fired for distributing pornographic images to other employees. Reasoning that, because there was no evidence that the employee had not intended his acts to get him fired, the […]
In two cases decided on Thursday, February 11th, the Utah Court of Appeals affirmed decisions of the Workforce Appeals Board. In Konan v. DWS, the Utah Court of Appeals affirmed a fraud overpayment finding against a claimant who was required to repay the amount he received and to pay a statutory penalty. The man who […]
As you have probably noticed, it has been a long time since I posted anything on my blog. Please excuse me for failing to do so. From December 23rd to February 7th was an exceptionally busy time for me. It included year-end partner meetings, a trial, and deposition preparations. In any event, in the approximate six […]
In Issa v. DWS, the Utah Court of Appeals affirmed the decision of the Workforce Appeals Board which denied unemployment benefits to an employee who attempted to rescind his resignation. The employee had resigned his employment after he was told he would be suspended for three days while the company investigated a second customer complaint. […]
In Higgs v. DWS, the Utah Court of Appeals affirmed the Department of Workforce Services determination that a man who was on vacation in the U.S. Virgin Islands had fraudulently obtained unemployment benefits for the week of his vacation. The court rejected the man’s claims that his ignorance of the requirements of the statute should preclude […]
In Brucks v. DWS, the Utah Court of Appeals agreed with the Department of Workforce Services that an employee, who apparently was attempting to gain some concessions by approaching his field supervisor and saying he did not want to remain employed if he had to work with his immediate supervisor, had quit and was not […]
In Thorpe v. Washington City, the Utah Court of Appeals declared that an employee who failed to file a complaint in a court raising his Utah Protection of Public Employees Act (“Whistleblower Act”) claims within 180 days was barred. The employee attempted to circumvent the requirements of the Whistleblower Act by claiming that a Notice […]
