IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA 
 

LARRY CARLIN, ) 
Appellant-Petitioner, ) 

vs.

REVIEW BOARD OF THE ) 
DEPARTMENT OF ) 
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT, ) 
and ) 
J & J PACKAGING COMPANY, ) 
 Appellees-Respondents. ) 

 

 

APPEAL FROM THE REVIEW BOARD OF THE INDIANA 

 DEPARTMENT OF WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT 

Cause No. 06-R-02540 

 

 

June 25, 2007 

 

MEMORANDUM DECISION - NOT FOR PUBLICATION 

 

ROBB, Judge 

 

Pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 65(D), 
this Memorandum Decision shall not be 
regarded as precedent or cited before 
any court except for the purpose of 
establishing the defense of res judicata, 
collateral estoppel, or the law of the case.



 The Review Board of the Indiana Department of Workforce Development (“Review 
Board”) adopted the determination of an Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”) that Larry 
Carlin voluntarily quit his job at J & J Packaging Company without good cause and was not 
entitled to unemployment benefits. Carlin appeals, contending that the Review Board’s 
decision that he voluntarily quit is contrary to law. We affirm. 

As provided by statute, the Review Board’s decision “shall be conclusive and binding 
as to all questions of fact.” Perfection Bakeries, Inc. v. Review Bd. of Dep’t of Workforce 
Dev., 783 N.E.2d 736, 739 (Ind. Ct. App. 2003) (quoting Ind. Code § 22-4-17-12(a)). When 
Review Board decisions are challenged as contrary to law, we examine “the sufficiency of 
the facts found to sustain the decision and the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the 
findings of fact.” Id. (quoting Ind. Code § 22-4-17-12(f)).1

“[A]n individual who has voluntarily left the individual’s most recent employment 
without good cause in connection with the work or who was discharged from the individual’s 
most recent employment for just cause” is ineligible for unemployment benefits. Ind. Code § 
22-4-15-1(a). The single hearing member initially denied benefits to Carlin because he was 
discharged for insubordination. In the proceedings before the ALJ, J & J Packaging claimed 
that Carlin voluntarily left his employment without good cause; Carlin contended that he was 
discharged without just cause. The Review Board, by adopting the ALJ’s findings of fact, 
found that on June 14, 2006, Carlin advised his manager that the task he had been assigned to 
perform alone was a two-person task, and that he was not going to perform the task by 
himself. The manager brought Carlin into his office to discuss the matter. During the 
discussion, the manager asked for Carlin’s badge. Carlin threw the badge down, left the 
office, and then left the premises before the end of his shift. He did not return at any time 
during the remainder of his shift. “The claimant was not advised that he was being sent 
home for the night. The claimant was not advised that he was being suspended. The 
claimant at no time was told that he was discharged.” Appellant’s Appendix at 90. The 
Review Board concluded that as there was no indication Carlin was going to be terminated, 
he quit his employment by leaving, and “the decision in favor of the employer is proper and 
is affirmed although reached by a different route.” Id. at 91. 


Carlin contends on appeal that the conclusion that he voluntarily quit his employment 
is unreasonable because the findings supporting that conclusion are based in part on hearsay 
evidence that should not have been considered; because the remaining evidence fails to 
support the findings; and because the findings do not support the conclusion. 

The question of whether an employee voluntarily terminated employment without 
good cause is a question of fact to be determined by the Review Board. Indianapolis 
Osteopathic Hosp., Inc. v. Jones, 669 N.E.2d 431, 433 (Ind. Ct. App. 1996). Even if we 
disregard the evidence Carlin contends the Review Board should not have considered, there 
is sufficient evidence to support the Review Board’s findings and conclusion. Carlin testified 
that after he expressed his dissatisfaction with his assigned task, his manager told him that he 
would not “tolerate [an] employee questioning my authority out on the floor.” Tr. at 21. 
Carlin replied that he would question the manager’s authority “out on the floor and here in 
the office or anywhere else when you’re wrong.” Id. The manager asked for Carlin’s badge 
and Carlin said he “took it out of my pocket, threw it down on the flo . . . on the chair and it 
fell off on the floor. Since he told me he didn’t wa . . . wasn’t arguing, I figured ‘well, he 
fired me.’ I walked out of the office and left . . . .” Id. Carlin testified that the manager 
never said he was fired and never asked him to leave, but because “he got mad and asked me 
for my badge[,] I figured, ‘well, he just fired me.’” Id. He also testified that when he had 
been suspended previously, he was asked for his badge at that time. Id. at 26. 

The Review Board’s determination that Carlin voluntarily quit his employment is not 
unreasonable under the circumstances, and we therefore affirm the Review Board’s order 
denying Carlin unemployment benefits. 

Affirmed. 

VAIDIK, J., concurs. 

SULIVAN, J., concurs in result.