Ariz. Admin. Code § R6-3-5105 - General (misconduct)

A. Misconduct.

1. The following constitute misconduct sufficient to disqualify a worker from receipt of unemployment insurance benefits pursuant to A.R.S. § 23-775(2):

a. An act of wanton or willful disregard of the employer's interest;

b. A deliberate violation of the employer's rules;

c. A disregard of standards of behavior that the employer has the right to expect of an employee; or

d. Negligence to such a degree, or a recurrence of negligence that:

i. Manifests culpability, wrongful intent, or evil design; or

ii. Shows an intentional and substantial disregard of the employer's interest or of the employee's duties and obligations to the employer.

2. A worker does not need to have intended to wrong the employer for the Department to find misconduct connected with the work. Misconduct may be established if there is:

a. Indifference to and neglect of the duties required of the worker by the contract or terms of employment; or

b. A material breach of any material lawful duty required under the employment contract or terms of employment, when the employer expressly or impliedly sets forth the duty to the worker and the facts show the worker should have reasonably been able to avoid the situation that brought about the discharge.

i. In determining whether a worker should have been reasonably expected to have avoided the situation that caused the discharge, the Department shall consider the worker's knowledge of the worker's responsibilities through past experience, explanations, warnings, or other similar occurrences.

ii. The Department shall evaluate the materiality of a duty and the materiality of the breach of the duty by considering what is customary in the type of business in which the worker was employed.

B. Discharge for a compelling personal reason not attributable to the employer.

1. The Department ordinarily restricts the determination of a separation from work for compelling personal reasons not attributable to the employer to circumstances that have no direct relationship to a worker's employment and the worker left employment for a cause beyond the worker's control. However, the Department may make a determination that the worker was discharged for a compelling personal reason not attributable to the employer when the employer discharged the worker under subsections (B)(2), (3), and (4).

2. The Department may determine that the worker was discharged for a compelling personal reason not attributable to the employer when:

a. The employer had no reasonable alternative but to discharge the worker; and

b. One or more of the following circumstances is present:

i. The worker was discharged because of an absence due to incarceration that is determined not to be misconduct under R6-3-5115(E)(1);

ii. The worker was discharged because of a physical or mental condition that might have endangered the worker's own safety on the job or the safety of others, such as epilepsy or active tuberculosis; or

iii. The worker was discharged because the worker was unable to properly perform the work due to a physical or mental condition; or

iv. The worker was discharged because the employer entered into an agreement with another party, other than the worker, that would result in a violation by the employer of a federal or state law if the worker were retained in employment.

3. The Department shall determine that a discharge was for a compelling personal reason not attributable to the employer when a worker was discharged because of events beyond the worker's reasonable control as a result of the worker being a victim of domestic violence, as defined in A.R.S. §§ 13-3601 and 13-3601.02. Examples of such events are the worker receiving unsolicited phone calls, unauthorized visitors, or other types of harassment at the work place.

4. The Department shall determine that a discharge was for a compelling personal reason not attributable to the employer if:

a. The worker's employment was terminated because the worker's employer was called into active duty in the military; or

b. The worker's employment was terminated because a former employee of the employer returned to work for the employer after having been called into active duty in the military, displacing the worker.

Notes

Ariz. Admin. Code § R6-3-5105

Former Rule number Misconduct 5. - 5.1. Former Rule repealed, new Section R6-3-5105 adopted effective January 24, 1977 (Supp. 77-1). Amended effective February 15, 1978 (Supp. 78-1). Amended as an emergency effective August 1, 1979, pursuant to A.R.S. § 41-1003, valid for only 90 days (Supp. 79-4). Former emergency adoption now adopted effective October 30, 1979 (Supp. 79-5). Amended subsection (B)(1), (2), and (3) effective July 24, 1980 (Supp. 80-4). Amended subsection (A) effective February 24, 1982 (Supp. 82-1). Amended effective December 20, 1995 (Supp. 95-4). Amended by final rulemaking at 13 A.A.R. 87, effective December 20, 2006 (Supp. 06-4). Amended by final rulemaking at 17 A.A.R. 1090, effective May 3, 2011 (Supp. 11-2).