IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE
IN AND FOR KENT COUNTY
CAROL L. CASSELL, )
)
Appellant, )
)
v. ) C.A. No. 02A-02-006 HDR
)
BARRATT’S TEMPORARY )
SERVICES and )
UNEMPLOYMENT )
INSURANCE APPEAL BOARD,)
)
Appellees. )
Submitted: June 20, 2002
Decided: August 21, 2002
Upon Appeal from a Decision
of the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board
AFFIRMED
RIDGELY, President Judge
O R D E R
This 21st day of August, 2002, upon consideration of the parties’ briefs and
the record below, it appears that:
(1) This is an appeal from a decision of the Unemployment Insurance
Appeal Board ("Board") that found Appellant Carol L. Cassell disqualified for
benefits. The Board’s decision is affirmed because it is supported by substantial
evidence and free of legal error.
(2) Appellant, through her former employer, Barrett Temp Service
("Barrett"), worked in a position with the State of Delaware at the Air and Waste
Management Department for over a year. On October 5, 2001, sh e informed Barrett
that she was leaving that job because she needed to find a job with benefits.
Appellant responded to an advertise ment in the newspaper offering such a job.
When she discovered that the new job was not what she thought the advertisement
had represented, Appellant called Barrett and asked to be restored to her State job.
As Barrett had already filled the position with someone Appellant had spent a day
training, they declined to do so, and informed Appellant that they had no positions
available for her.
(3) Appellant applied for unemployment compensation benefits, and her
application was denied by the Claims Deputy. Appellant then appealed to the
Appeals Referee ("Referee"), who affirmed the Claims Depu ty’s decision. The
Referee found that Appellant had left her job for personal reasons, and that therefore
she was not qualified for unemployment compensation benefits. Appellant has
appealed the decision of the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board ("Board")
which denied Plaintiff’s request for further review of the decision of the Referee.
(4) In reviewing the factual decisions of the Board, this Court must
determine whether the Board's findings are supported by substantial evidence and
free from legal error.1 Substantial evidence means such relevant evidence as a
reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion.2 The standard
of review for this Court considering an action of the Board is whether the Board
abused its discretion.3 A decision by the Board is an abuse of discretion if it is
based on "clearly unreasonable or capricious grounds" or the Board exceeded the
"bounds of reason in view of the circumstances" and "ignored recognized rules of
law or practice so as to produce injustice."4 Absent such an abuse, the decision of
the Board must be upheld.
(5) Here, the Board upheld the Referee’s findings of fact with regard to the
Appellant voluntarily quitting her employment and further held that the Referee’s
decision was controlled by settled law. 19 Del. C. § 3315(1) provides that:
An individual shall be disqualified for benefits:
(1) For the week in which the individual left work voluntarily
without good cause attributable to such work and for each week
thereafter until the individual has been employed in each of 4
subsequent weeks (whether or not consecutive) and has earned
wages in covered employment equal to not less than 4 times the
weekly benefit amount.
Because the Referee had found that Appellant had voluntarily left her work without
good cause attributable to the work, she was disqualified from the receipt of
unemployment benefits because leaving one’s job to seek one with a better salary
or benefits is a personal choice. Therefore, the Board denied Appellant’s
application for further review. The Board’s adoption of the Referee’s findings of
fact is supported by substantial evidence on the record, and its statement of the
settled law on this matter is free from legal error. Further, the Board did not abuse
its discretion in any way. Therefore, its decision must be upheld.
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that the decision of the
Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board is AFFIRMED.
/s/ Henry duPont Ridgely
President Judge
cmh
oc: Prothonotary
xc: Order distribution