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Lammie v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review2/1/2002
Submitted: November 9, 2001
OPINION NOT REPORTED
Thomas G. Lammie (Claimant) petitions this Court to review an order of the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review (Board) that affirmed a referee's decision denying Claimant unemployment benefits under Section 402(b) of the Unemployment Compensation Law (Law), Act of December 5, 1936, Second Ex. Sess., P.L. (1937) 2897, as amended, 43 P.S. ยง802(b). Section 402(b) provides that a claimant shall be ineligible for unemployment compensation benefits for any week in which his or her unemployment was caused by voluntarily leaving work without cause of a necessitous and compelling nature. We affirm.
The Board, by adopting the decision of referee, made the following findings of fact. Claimant was employed by United Parcel Service (Employer) from 1975 until his resignation on January 3, 2001. He was last employed as a full-time supervisor. Claimant's duties required him to drive a truck in emergencies and to train new employees. His duties, as a truck driver, also required that he maintain a valid Department of Transportation (DOT) medical certification. Claimant's certification expired in July 2000, and Employer sent immediate notice to Claimant of this fact. In November 2000, Employer sent a reminder to Claimant that he needed to renew his medical certification. On December 14, 2000, Employer directed Claimant to attend a physical examination with Employer's doctor in order to renew the required medical certification. Claimant failed the physical, however, because of high blood pressure.
On December 27 and 28, 2000, Claimant met with Employer's management personnel to discuss his failure to maintain a valid DOT medical certification, his failed physical examination, and his presentation of a prior medical certification card to his manager that appeared to have an altered expiration date indicating that the certification had not yet expired. Claimant was asked to write a statement concerning why his medical certification card appeared to have an altered date and was suspended on December 28, 2000 pending an investigation of the matter.
On January 2, 2001, Claimant again met with management personnel and informed them that he would resign rather than possibly involve other employees in the matter of the altered date on his medical certification card. He requested that Employer consider a severance package based on the length of his employment with Employer. On that day, Claimant wrote a four-page statement detailing certain issues he had with Employer that were the basis for his resignation. The next day, he submitted to Employer a handwritten note of resignation. He also signed a settlement agreement and general release, indicating that he agreed to resign in consideration of certain separation benefits. Claimant would not have been discharged and would have had available work with Employer had he not resigned on January 3, 2001. Claimant, however, attempted to revoke his resignation on January 24, 2001, but Employer did not accept the revocation.
Claimant's application for unemployment compensation benefits was rejected by the Job Center. He appealed that determination, and a hearing was held before the referee, during which he and Employer's work force planning manager testified. By his testimony, Claimant attempted to establish that he had no real choice but to resign. The referee rejected that argument, however, and determined that the evidence taken as a whole showed that Claimant voluntarily resigned without cause of a necessitous and compelling nature. The Board adopted the findings and conclusions of the referee, and this petition for review followed.
Our scope of review i
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