Opinion
2011-08-4
In the Matter of the Claim of Victor GASTON, Appellant.Commissioner of Labor, Respondent.
Victor Gaston, New York City, appellant pro se.Eric T. Schneiderman, Attorney General, New York City (Bessie Bazile of counsel), for respondent.
Appeal from a decision of the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board, filed August 2, 2010, which ruled that claimant was disqualified from receiving unemployment insurance benefits because he voluntarily left his employment without good cause.
Claimant was employed as a building maintenance worker for the employer for approximately two months when his supervisor noticed him standing in a building lobby with an unlit cigarette in his mouth and reprimanded him. Upset at the manner in which he had been addressed, claimant left the job site and never returned to his employment. The Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board denied claimant's request for unemployment insurance benefits and he now appeals.
We affirm. The Board credited claimant's version of events and, because criticism from an employer does not constitute good cause for leaving employment, we find that substantial evidence supports the Board's decision to deny benefits ( see Matter of LoRusso [Commissioner of Labor], 68 A.D.3d 1317, 1317, 890 N.Y.S.2d 204 [2009]; Matter of Soto–Harold [Commissioner of Labor], 55 A.D.3d 1119, 1120, 866 N.Y.S.2d 403 [2008] ).
ORDERED that the decision is affirmed, without costs.