IN THE 
COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA 

PRISCILLA A. WALDRIP,
Appellant,

vs. 
 
REVIEW BOARD OF THE INDIANA 
DEPARTMENT OF WORKFORCE 
DEVELOPMENT and EMPLOYMENT 
PLUS, INC.,
Appellees. 

APPEAL FROM THE REVIEW BOARD OF THE INDIANA DEPARTMENT OF 
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT 


Priscilla A. Waldrip appeals a decision of the Review Board of the Indiana 
Department of Workforce Development (the Review Board) denying her claim for 
unemployment benefits. Waldrip presents the following consolidated, restated issue for 
review: Did the Review Board err in determining that Waldrip’s employer terminated 
her for just cause? 

We affirm. 

The facts favorable to the judgment are that on December 20, 2004, Waldrip 
completed a Pre-Application for Employment Plus, Inc., which asked, among other 
things, for her employment history, including her three most recent employers. 
Beginning with the most recent, following is the list provided by Waldrip, including the 
name of the employer, the date of employment, and the reason for leaving: 

Lowes Oct 21 to ______ not enough hours 
P.T.S. Electronics Apr 1998 to 2001 got laide [sic] off 
A.T.R. Coil Factory 1996 to 1998 They went to Mexico 

Appellant’s Appendix at 5. In fact, it was later discovered that Waldrip worked for a 
company called Cook Incorporated after she worked for P.T.S., and she worked for 
another company called Ken-Tech after Cook and before Lowe’s. Employment Plus, 
which supplied temporary workers for its clients, hired Waldrip and sent her to work at a 
company called Sabin. 

Cook had a policy against persons being assigned to work in its facility if they had 
previously worked for Cook. As it turned out, Sabin was owned by Cook. Cook soon 
became aware of Waldrip’s presence at Sabin and notified Employment Plus that Waldrip 
had worked at Cook before and that it would not allow her to continue working at Sabin. 
Employment Plus reviewed Waldrip’s application and noticed, apparently for the first 
time, that there were gaps in the employment history Waldrip reported. When applicants 
fill out an application for Employment Plus, they are informed that the failure to 
complete the application accurately will result in discharge. Waldrip had been so 
informed. Because she had failed to accurately report her employment history, 
Employment Plus discharged Waldrip. 

Waldrip subsequently applied for unemployment compensation, claiming that she 
had been discharged without just cause. Her application was approved on June 3, 2005, 
and Employment Plus appealed. On August 8, 2005, a hearing was conducted before an 
administrative law judge (ALJ), who reversed the original decision and held that Waldrip 
had been discharged for just cause and thus was ineligible for unemployment 
compensation. Waldrip appealed the ALJ’s decision to the Review Board. On January 
25, 2006, the Review Board summarily adopted the ALJ’s findings and conclusions and 
affirmed his decision. Waldrip appeals that decision. 

Waldrip contends the Review Board erred in concluding that her dismissal for 
filing an inaccurate employment application constituted termination for just cause, and 
thus claimed she was eligible for unemployment compensation benefits. 
The Unemployment Compensation Act (the Act) provides benefits to people who 
are involuntarily out of work through no fault of their own. Fuerst v. Review Bd. of 
Indiana Dep’t of Workforce Dev., 823 N.E.2d 309 (Ind. Ct. App. 2005). Conversely, an 
unemployed claimant is ineligible for unemployment benefits if he or she is discharged 
for just cause pursuant to Ind. Code Ann. § 22-4-15-1 (West, PREMISE through 2006 
Public Laws approved and effective through March 15, 2006). Discharge for just cause 
includes “any breach of duty in connection with work which is reasonably owed an 
employer by an employee.” I.C. § 22-4-15-1(d)(8). 

According to the Act, “[a]ny decision of the review board shall be conclusive and 
binding as to all questions of fact.” I.C. § 22-4-17-12(a) (West, PREMISE through 2006 
Public Laws approved and effective through March 15, 2006). Where the decision is 
challenged as contrary to law, we engage in a two-part inquiry, including the “sufficiency 
of the facts found to sustain the decision” and the “sufficiency of the evidence to sustain 
the findings of facts.” I.C. § 22-4-17-12(f). Pursuant to this standard, we are called upon 
to review: “(1) determinations of specific or basic underlying facts; (2) conclusions or 
inferences from those facts, or determinations of ultimate facts; and (3) conclusions of 
law.” McHugh v. Review Bd. of Indiana Dep’t of Workforce Dev., 842 N.E.2d 436, 440 
(Ind. Ct. App. 2006). 

We review the Review Board’s findings of basic fact utilizing the “substantial 
evidence” standard. McHugh v. Review Bd. of Indiana Dep’t of Workforce Dev., 842 
N.E.2d 436. In so doing, we neither reweigh the evidence nor assess witness credibility, 
and consider only the evidence most favorable to the Review Board’s findings. Id. 
Reversal is warranted only where there is no substantial evidence to support the findings. 
Id. Also, if the Review Board has drawn an inference from its findings of basic fact, we 
review that to insure it is reasonable. Id. Our final task is to review the conclusions of 
law in order to determine whether the Review Board correctly interpreted and applied the 
law. Id. 

As indicated above, in Indiana, an unemployed claimant is ineligible for 
unemployment benefits if he or she is discharged for “just cause” within the meaning of 
I.C. § 22-4-15-1. Pursuant to the Act, “discharge for just cause” is defined to include “(1) 
separation initiated by an employer for falsification of an employment application to 
obtain employment through subterfuge [and] (2) knowing violation of a reasonable and 
uniformly enforced rule of an employer.” I.C. § 22-4-15-1(d). The ALJ determined that 
Waldrip had falsified her application for employment – one of the specifically 
enumerated circumstances that constitutes just cause for terminating employment. 

Specifically, the ALJ concluded: 

In the instant case the evidence establishes that the claimant did not put the 
Ken-Tech employment down notwithstanding the fact that it clearly asked 
for her second most recent employer, which that would have been. The 
evidence establishes that that was a conscious decision on the claimant’s 
part although she apparently didn’t understand what second most recent 
employer meant. The evidence also establishes that she omitted her Cook 
employment, but that was inadvertent because she didn’t remember it 
because of the short period for which she had worked there. The evidence 
does establish that the claimant left Ken-Tech off despite the fact that it 
asked for the second most recent employer and therefore the claimant did 
falsify the employment application. 

Waldrip first contends that the reason cited by the ALJ as just cause for Waldrip’s 
termination differs from the reason given by Employment Plus for terminating Waldrip. 
If true, this would be improper as the Review Board may not premise a finding of 
discharge for just cause upon grounds other than those relied upon by the employer. See 
Butler v. Review Bd. of Indiana Dep’t of Employment & Training Servs., 633 N.E.2d 310 
(Ind. Ct. App. 1994). Employment Plus listed on the notice of appeal the following 
reason for Waldrip’s discharge: “Claimant was discharged for violation of company 
policy[;] worked previously for company. Did not put this on application.” Exhibits, 
Division Exhibit 2. Waldrip claims this differs from the actual reason for her 
termination, which was according to Waldrip: 

Cook Incorporated had “a policy of not allowing someone who has been 
employed there before to work for them if they voluntarily quit or were 
discharged,” … that Cook notified Employment Plus that Waldrip had 
previously worked there and that they would no longer allow her to work 
there, and that Employment Plus fired her for that reason. 

Appellant’s Brief at 7 (internal citation omitted). In summary, Waldrip contends that she 
was fired because she had previously worked for Cook, and therefore could not work 
there again. This misstates the essence of Waldrip’s termination. Employment Plus fired 
Waldrip because Waldrip neglected to divulge on her application that she had previously 
worked for Cook. Therefore, the reason cited by the ALJ and affirmed by the Review 
Board for finding that Waldrip was terminated for just cause was the very same reason 
that Employment Plus gave for firing her. 

Waldrip next claims the evidence does not support a finding that she quit or was 
discharged from her original employment with Cook. We presume this argument is 
related to the disqualifying condition set out in I.C. § 22-4-15-1(a) that claimants may not 
have either been discharged for just cause or voluntarily quit. Waldrip points out that she 
separated from employment with Cook the first time because the operation in which she 
was working moved to Mexico. Even if she is correct, such is irrelevant to the issues 
under consideration. The circumstances of her separation from employment impacting 
her claim for unemployment benefits are those relating to the separation from 
Employment Plus, not the original employment with Cook. As to her unsupported 
assertion in summarizing this argument that “[t]here [is] therefore no support in the 
record for Employment Plus’ stated reason for discharge”, that simply is not true. 
Appellant’s Brief at 8. 

Finally, we arrive at the crux of Waldrip’s argument on appeal. She claims “even 
if Employment Plus did discharge Waldrip for falsifying her employment application, 
such a conclusion is not supported by substantial evidence and is not reasonable.” Id. In 
essence, Waldrip contends that although she did in fact submit an inaccurate employment 
application, the inaccuracies were the result of her misunderstanding the instructions, not 
an intention to deceive. In short, she argues, 

[t]here was no evidence and the ALJ made no findings that Waldrip 
purposely omitted any prior employment that she otherwise would not have 
been entitled to have. The statute does not say that turning in an 
employment application with false information on it is grounds for 
discharge. It says that the falsification has to be related to an effort to get 
employment through subterfuge. 

Id. at 9. Citing cases from sister jurisdictions, Waldrip urges us to recognize the principle 
that falsification on an employment application does not supply just cause for discharge 
unless the information from the application was “material to the work.” Id. at 13. See 
Denberg v. Loretto Heights Coll., 694 P.2d 375 (Colo. Ct. App. 1984); Casias v. The 
Indus. Comm’n, 554 P.2d 1357 (Colo. Ct. App. 1976); Roundtree v. Bd. Of Review, 281 
N.E.2d 360 (Ill. App. Ct. 1972); Pouncil v. Kansas Employment Sec. Bd., 997 P.2d 715 
(Kan. 2000); Heitman v. Cronstroms Mfg., Inc., 401 N.W.2d 425 (Min Ct. App. 1987); 
Matter of Rosedietcher, 308 N.E.2d 686 (N.Y. 1974). In this particular case, that means 
we are asked to hold that if the inaccuracies and omissions on Waldrip’s application were 
not intentional in nature and not motivated by a desire to gain employment, then they do 
not constitute “just cause” within the meaning of the Act for terminating her employment. 
Even in light of the ALJ’s, and thus the Review Board’s, finding that the omission 
of her prior employment with Cook and Ken-Tech on the Employment Plus application 
was inadvertent, we cannot subscribe to the view that Waldrip urges upon us. First, we 
note that the list of reasons for “just cause” termination set out in I.C. § 22-4-15-1(d) is 
not exclusive (“‘Discharge for just cause’ as used in this section is defined to include but 
not be limited to …”). (Emphasis supplied.) Thus, it is not necessarily the case that an 
inaccurate employment application supplies just cause for termination only if the 
inaccuracy was intentional and motivated by a desire to gain employment. Second, the 
Indiana cases cited by Waldrip in support of her position contain only one general 
requirement, viz., “the issue is whether the stated grounds for discharge have a basis in 
fact and constitute just cause.” Parkison v. James River Corp., 659 N.E.2d 690, 693 (Ind. 
Ct. App. 1996) (quoting Voss v. Review Bd., 533 N.E.2d 1020, 1021 (Ind. Ct. App. 
1989)). In the instant case, Employment Plus’s stated reason for terminating Waldrip 
was her filing of an inaccurate employment application with Employment Plus. The ALJ 
found that Waldrip had indeed filed an inaccurate application, thus satisfying the 
threshold requirement set out in Parkison (i.e., that they have a basis in fact). There 
being no technical deficiency in the Review Board’s ruling, we must now decide whether 
Waldrip’s actions supplied just cause for her termination. 

As noted above, Employment Plus was in the business of supplying workers for 
other business entities. As such, Employment Plus’s ability to supply qualified, 
competent workers was the touchstone of its business. We cannot here speculate on the 
employment criteria of any or all of Employment Plus’s clients, but we do know a 
qualifying requirement of at least one: Cook would not use workers who had previously 
worked for Cook. Employment Plus would not know a person had worked for Cook on 
previous occasions unless that information was provided on the employment application. 

Without that information, Employment Plus might, as occurred here, assign an ineligible 
worker to work at Cook. The missing information was thus, on the facts of this particular 
case, material to Waldrip’s suitability to work for Cook. In other words, the accuracy and 
completeness of the information applicants such as Waldrip provided on their 
employment applications was of significant importance to Employment Plus as an 
employer in its particular line of work. As the Appellee notes on appeal, the potential 
consequences of Waldrip’s inaccurate employment application are not insignificant: “A 
client rejected an assigned worker, possibly resulting in loss of money, loss of face, and 
loss of a client.” Brief of the Appellee at 8. On the facts of this case, submitting an 
inaccurate employment application constitutes just cause for termination. 

To summarize, there was substantial evidence to support the Review Board’s 
finding that Waldrip submitted an inaccurate application. See McHugh v. Review Bd. of 
Indiana Dep’t of Workforce Dev., 842 N.E.2d 436. Indeed, that fact was not disputed. 
Accepting as true the Review Board’s finding that Waldrip’s mistakes in completing the 
application were inadvertent, our final task is to review the Review Board’s legal 
conclusion that discharging Waldrip for submitting an inaccurate application constituted 
a termination for just cause. For the reasons cited above, we hold that the Review Board 
correctly interpreted and applied the law in so ruling. Id. Thus, the termination was for 
just cause, and the denial of benefits is affirmed. 

Judgment affirmed. 
NAJAM, J., and DARDEN, J., concur.