Paratransit, Inc. v. UIAB: Refusal to Sign Write Up Constitutes Misconduct and Disqualifies Employee From Receiving Unemployment Benefits

Just a quick note on this case.  

We all have seen employees refuse to sign performance reviews or disciplinary warnings that they believe are untrue or unfair.  They do this even though the write-up form typically says that, by signing, the employee does not admit to fault or the truth of the facts stated. 

In Paratransit, Inc. v. Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board (Medeiros) (5/31/12, pub. 6/14/12), the Court of Appeal held that an employee's refusal to sign a  disciplinary memorandum in connection with a prior incident of misconduct constituted work-related misconduct, not a good-faith error in judgment, rendering the employee ineligible for unemployment compensation.  

I wonder how this would play out in a wrongful termination action. In Barbosa v. IMPCO Technologies, Inc. (2009) 179 Cal.App.4th 1116 (discussed here), the Court of Appeal held that the public policy protects an employee from termination for making a good faith but mistaken claim to overtime. The same public policy considerations would not appear to protect an employee who refuses to sign a write-up. 

The opinion is available here.