Unemployment Compensation Board of Review v. Johnson
Unemployment Compensation Board of Review v. Johnson
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
Ronald Johnson, an unemployment compensation claimant, was employed by Sears, Roebuck and Company as a part-time stock clerk on the 9th of September, 1974. His original hours of work were from 7:00 o’clock A.M. until 12:30 P.M. He was later assigned additional hours both in the afternoon and evenings, not including, however, Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Mr. Johnson testified that when employed he told his employer he could not
The Unemployment Compensation Board of Review concluded on this state of facts that Mr. Johnson was discharged for wilful misconduct and that he was, therefore, ineligible for unemployment compensation under Section 402 (e) of the Unemployment Compensation Law, Act of December 5, 1936, Second Ex. Sess., P.L. (1937) 2897, as amended, 43 P.S. §802 (e). Mr. Johnson has appealed.
Without providing any explanation for his failure to describe to his employer the nature of the important meetings requiring his presence on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, Mr. Johnson now contends, as he did when he first applied for unemployment compensation and in his testimony at the referee’s hearing, that his Tuesday and Thursday evening engagements were religious meetings conducted by Jehovah’s Witnesses, of which religious body he is a member. His employer’s representative testified at the referee’s hearing that if Mr. Johnson had disclosed the reason for his unwillingness to work on Tuesday and Thursday evenings later disclosed to the Unemployment Compensation authorities, “other arrangements could have been made.”
In his appeal, Mr. Johnson places primary reliance upon Sherbert v. Verner, 374 U.S. 398 (1963) , where it
The holding of Davis Unemployment Compensation Case, 187 Pa. Superior Ct. 116, 144 A.2d 452 (1958), that a worker’s discharge for refusing to work overtime because of the asserted need to attend to undescribed personal affairs was for wilful misconduct supports the foUowing:
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And Now, this 27th day of February, 1976, the decision of the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review is affirmed and this appeal dismissed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.