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Southwestern Bell Telephone11/30/2005
Appellant Southwestern Bell Telephone appeals from the November 8, 2004 Board of Review's decision granting unemployment benefits under Ark. Code Ann. § 11-10-513(c) (Supp. 2003) to appellee Stephen Barkley, who voluntarily participated in a work-force reduction process. On appeal, Southwestern Bell argues that the Board's decision that Barkley left his employment after it "asked for volunteers" for a permanent work force reduction is not supported by substantial evidence and that it amounts to an erroneous construction of Ark. Code Ann. § 11-10-513 (c). We affirm.
Barkley, who began working for Southwestern Bell in 1974, ended his employment as a cable-splicing technician on July 8, 2003, after participating in Southwestern Bell's Voluntary Severance Program ("VSP"). Southwestern Bell's collective bargaining agreement requires it to offer eligible employees the opportunity to sign up for a voluntary severance package when it determines that there is a surplus of employees in a certain area and that a work force reduction will be necessary. Participation in this VSP is based on seniority, and the most senior employees are allowed to participate until the workgroup that contains a surplus is reduced by the required number of employees. Southwestern Bell will only begin to lay off employees when not enough eligible employees participate in the VSP, and it will begin with the least senior employee first.
Southwestern Bell announced a surplus in Paragould in the summer of 2003. Barkley was employed in Jonesboro, but Paragould is within his force adjustment area. According to Barkley, there was not a surplus within his particular workgroup, but he was eligible for the VSP because there was a surplus within his force adjustment area. He requested a "Voluntary Candidate Request Form" from his manager and filled it out on May 9, 2003, stating that he wished to participate in the VSP. Barkley then received a "Voluntary Severance Candidate Request Conditional Offer," which stated that his form had been received and that the company was trying to establish a pool of voluntary severance candidates. The letter explained that Southwestern Bell was trying to determine if Barkley would be willing to accept an offer should a match be made for his position. The letter also stated that, if Barkley decided he was willing to accept the offer and sign the form, his decision was irrevocable.
Barkley signed this document on June 30, 2003. He testified that he had applied for the VSP and had been made conditional offers on prior occasions but that he did not accept the offers at those times because he was not "ready to go." In this instance, Southwestern Bell offered Barkley a severance payment of $46,700, a lump sum pension payment of approximately $244,000, and a $4000 payment for vacation days not taken. Barkley decided to take the offer, and Southwestern Bell matched him with another employee in Paragould, who would have lost his job had Barkley not accepted the voluntary severance offer. Barkley testified that his job was not in jeopardy at that time and that he could have continued to work at Southwestern Bell if he had not participated in the VSP. According to Barkley, it was "general knowledge" within the company that the VSP was available once there was an announced surplus. He stated that no one at Southwestern Bell approached him and asked him to volunteer.
Allen Jay Simmons, Barkley's workgroup manager, testified that Barkley was one of the employees in his workgroup and that Barkley asked to fill out the "Voluntary Candidate Request Form" after the surplus was announced within his force adjustment area. He corroborated Barkley's testimony that Barkley's job was not at risk. Accor
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