CUB 77656

LOUIS S. TANNENBAUM, Umpire

In the present instance the employer is appealing a decision of the Board of Referees which dismissed its appeal of a Commission ruling that the claimant had just cause for quitting his job pursuant to sections 29 and 30 of the Employment Insurance Act (the Act).

The Commission had determined that the claimant had left his job with just cause due to harassment from a co-worker. The employer appealed to the Board of Referees which dismissed the appeal with the following holdings:

In this case both the claimant and appellant did agree on the main points of the issue. The claimant had a good working relationship with the employer and previous customers. There was an altercation that occurred on November 6, 2009 between the claimant and a customer employee that left the claimant with the feeling being continually harassed. A conversation did take place between the appellant and claimant as to alternate locations for work. There were no other locations available.

The Board believes the claimant demonstrated that he had just cause to leave his employment when he did and he had no reasonable alternatives pursuant to sections 29 and 30 of the Employment Insurance Act.

The employer has appealed the Board’s decision alleging as grounds an error of fact by the Board (exhibit 15.2).

The evidence does not reveal any errors by the Board either of fact or of law, nor does it reveal any other possible ground of appeal. The decision was certainly open to the Board, as the master of the facts, and an Umpire should not intervene unless the decision is unreasonable which it is not.

For the above reasons the appeal before the Umpire is dismissed.

Louis S. Tannenbaum
UMPIRE

Ottawa, Ontario
August 31, 2011