SYNCROLIFT ROLLS ROYCE 
Appellant, 
IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL 
FIRST DISTRICT, STATE OF FLORIDA 
NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO 
FILE MOTION FOR REHEARING AND 
v. DISPOSITION THEREOF IF FILED 
FLORIDA UNEMPLOYMENT CASE NO. 1D03-0268 
APPEALS COMMISSION, 
Appellee. 
__________________________/ 
Opinion filed March 26, 2004.
An appeal from an order of the Unemployment Appeals Commission.
Jose I. Leon; Ford & Harrison LLP, Miami, for Appellant.
Therese Pine, Tallahassee, for Appellee.
HAWKES, J.
Appellant, Syncrolift Rolls Royce, appeals the final order of the Unemployment 
Appeals Commission (UAC), which rejected the findings of fact of the Appeals 
Referee, after concluding the findings were based on hearsay alone. We reverse and 
remand. 

The record indicates that, when completing the new hire paperwork, Syncrolift 
learned the claimant used two different social security numbers, and had provided an 
illegible social security card. Syncrolift gave the claimant an opportunity to provide 
a legible card, but when the card arrived, it contained a third social security number. 
Following the claimant’s inability, over a four-month period, to adequately explain her 
use of three social security numbers, Syncrolift discharged the claimant, and she 
requested unemployment compensation. 

At the unemployment compensation hearing, the claimant testified she 
mistakenly provided Syncrolift with three social security numbers. Syncrolift 
presented hearsay evidence in the form of counsel’s testimony, and various 
documents, including drivers’ licence records and other documents filled out by the 
claimant, which indicated the claimant had been knowingly using at least two of these 
numbers for several years. 

Following the hearing, the Referee found the claimant presented Syncrolift with 
inaccurate social security numbers on several occasions over a four month period. 
The Referee further found the claimant’s actions in presenting multiple social security 
numbers violated a standard of behavior Syncrolift had a right to expect, and 
demonstrated an intentional substantial disregard of her duties and obligations to 
Syncrolift. The Referee concluded the claimant was terminated for misconduct in 
connection with work and disqualified her from receiving unemployment compensation 
benefits. 

The claimant appealed this decision to the UAC. The UAC found the Referee’s 
findings, if not supported solely by hearsay, would have been sufficient to find the 
claimant was terminated for misconduct in connection with work. However, the UAC, 
concluding the Referee reached his decision by relying exclusively upon hearsay, 
reversed the Referee’s order. 

It is well-established that in unemployment compensation appeals, hearsay is 
admissible only for the purpose of explaining or supplementing other evidence, and 
that, standing alone, it is insufficient to prove a material fact. See Tassone v. 
Unemployment Appeals Comm’n, 662 So.2 d 1003 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995); Yost v. 
Unemployment Appeals Comm’n, 848 So. 2d 1235 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003). However, 
in this case, the claimant’s own testimony provided competent, substantial evidence 
that she provided Syncrolift with different social security numbers. Although she 
claimed to have done so by mistake, the Referee, as the fact finder, was free to find 
her testimony on this point lacked credibility, and reject her explanation as to why she 
used these numbers. The hearsay evidence offered by Syncrolift supplemented or 
explained the evidence offered by the claimant, and provided a different explanation 
for her use of the numbers. Because the Referee’s findings are based on competent, 
substantial evidence, they must be accepted by the UAC. See Ford v. S.E. Atl. Corp., 
588 So. 2d 1039 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991). 

The UAC’s order is REVERSED and the case REMANDED for reinstatement 
of the Referee’s order. 

DAVIS and VAN NORTWICK, JJ., CONCUR.