Smith v. State Of Wash. Empl. Sec. Dep’t
Smith secretly recorded conversations with his coworkers in violation of state law. In addition, he had a county laptop with unauthorized software and was instructed to return it without deleting anything. He returned it after removing the incriminating software of course. Those amount to misconduct worthy of denying Smith’s unemployment benefits. Of particular note is the Court of Appeal’s refusing to look at witness credibility over the view of the Commissioner. The Commissioner was actually reviewing the ALJ. Its unclear from the opinion if the Commissioner made credibility findings over the ALJ; all the court says is it will not put its findings of credibility over the agency. This seems a bit off.
Unfortunately, the policy was clear that recording was not allowed, and not complying with a policy is misconduct.
