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DC 200.9 Unreasonable Expectation

Click on the case numbers below to access decisions, where the Board considers whether the claimant’s discharge is due to an unreasonable employer expectation.

0024 6526 03

0024 6526 03 (Nov. 29, 2018) – Held claimant, who failed to comply with the employer’s reasonable expectation that she not report to her work area earlier than her start time, is disqualified under G.L. c. 151A, § 25(e)(2). She needed to comply even though she disagreed with it.

0023 4482 89

0023 4482 89 (Sept. 27, 2018) – Directive to submit to a Fitness for Duty examination based solely upon using an over-the-counter hemp based cream to relieve chronic knee pain was unreasonable, where the product did not contain THC, claimant’s job performance was unaffected, and her behavior was normal. Claimant’s discharge for refusing to take the exam was not disqualifying under G.L. c. 151A, § 25(e)(2).

0020 9459 20

0020 9459 20 (Dec. 27, 2017) – At most, the employer has shown that the claimant exercised poor judgment in giving an inappropriate assignment to her second graders at a time when she was feeling ill.  Any omissions during an investigative interview were not deliberate, but due to forgetting every person she had spoken to.  Employer's no-contact directive was overbroad and unreasonable.

0019 4026 35

0019 4026 35 (Sept. 28, 2017) – Although the claimant had attendance problems, it was not reasonable for the employer to expect him to forfeit his normally scheduled day off because he had taken an approved, accrued day off that week.

0015 7381 34

0015 7381 34 (Dec. 23, 2015) – Employer’s directive that the claimant, a healthcare supervisor with 50 years of experience as a nurse, not discuss her discipline for objecting to its new protocol for a highly contagious resident with coworkers was unreasonable.

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