Loss of the license or other certification required for the performance of the duties of the position typically results in the termination of the individual’s employment
2015 NY Slip Op 04182, Appellate Division, Third Department
2015 NY Slip Op 04182, Appellate Division, Third Department
Although the loss of the license or the certification required to perform the duties of the position typically results in the termination of the individual’s employment, the courts have held that a termination for inability to produce proof of possession of a required license, permit or certificate is not a dismissal in the nature of discipline.*
However, an individual dismissed because he or she is unable to produce the required credentials to lawfully perform the duties of his or her position may also suffer another consequences following his or her termination - the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board may determine that the Claimant was disqualified from receiving unemployment insurance benefits because he or she had voluntarily left his or her employment “without good cause.”
In this instance Claimant had been employed as a full time heavy equipment operator by a municipality's highway department for more than four years . One of the conditions of his employment was that he maintain a valid commercial driver's license (CDL).
In the course of a traffic stop, Claimant “refused to submit to a breathalyzer test” and his CDL was automatically suspended as a result.
Although there was some discussion about Claimant’s continuing to work for the highway department as a laborer on a part-time basis, this did not occur and Claimant was unable to return to his job as a heavy equipment operator as a result of his CDL being suspended.
Claimant then applied for unemployment insurance benefits. Although Claimant’s application for unemployment insurance benefits was initially denied, on appeal an Administrative Law Judge ruled that Claimant was allowed to receive benefits. The Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board [Board], however, subsequently reversed this decision, concluding that Claimant was disqualified from receiving benefits because he had provoked his discharge.
Claimant appealed but the Appellate Division sustained the Board’s ruling.
Citing Matter of Ramirez [Commissioner of Labor], 84 AD3d 1656 and other decisions, the court explained that applicants for unemployment insurance benefits “who have undertaken voluntary actions that have resulted in the forfeiture of their valid CDLs, a necessary condition of employment,” have been held to have provoked their discharge thereby disqualifying them from receiving unemployment insurance benefits.**
Rejecting Claimant’s argument to the contrary, the Appellate Division said that the appointing authority “was not obligated to offer [Claimant] a part-time position as a laborer,” following his termination from his heavy equipment operator position, citing Matter of Ramirez [Commissioner of Labor], 84 AD3d at 1657.
* See, for example, Matter of Cravatta v New York State Dept. of Transp., 77 AD3d 1399; Matter of Carr v New York State Dept. of Transp., 70 AD3d 1110.
** An applicant for unemployment insurance benefits who has left his or her position “without good cause” is typically held ineligible for such benefits. [See Hawkins v Commissioner of Labor, 71 AD3d 1215}.
The decision is posted on the Internet at: