Filed Date： 2/4/2010
Status： Precedential
Modified Date： 11/1/2024
Appeal from a decision of the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board, filed March 26, 2009, which ruled that claimant was disqualified from receiving unemployment insurance benefits because his employment was terminated due to misconduct.
Claimant worked as a respiratory therapist at a hospital for over 14 years. While claimant was administering treatment, a female patient accused him of inappropriate physical contact. A criminal charge was filed against claimant as a result. He pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of harassment in the second degree {see Penal Law § 240.26 [1]), received a conditional discharge and his file was sealed. The Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board subsequently ruled that claimant was disqualified from receiving unemployment insurance benefits because his employment was terminated due to misconduct. Claimant appeals.
We affirm. “It is well settled that offensive behavior in the workplace which is detrimental to the employer’s best interest constitutes disqualifying misconduct” (Matter of Williams [Commissioner of Labor], 32 AD3d 1089, 1090 [2006] [citations omitted]). Here, claimant’s plea of guilty to a reduced criminal charge of harassment formed the basis for his discharge and entailed offensive physical contact that was strictly prohibited by the employer’s rules and clearly adverse to the employer’s interests. This provides substantial evidence supporting the
Mercure, J.P., Rose, Lahtinen, Stein and Garry, JJ., concur. Ordered that the decision is affirmed, without costs.