Opinion
May 31, 1967
Appeal from a decision of the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board which held claimant ineligible to receive benefits upon the ground of his misconduct in connection with his employment (Labor Law, § 593, subd. 3). The decision is supported by substantial evidence. Claimant, a bellman, was hired by a hotel after having been required to complete an employment application which was an integral part of his employment and which contained a verification that the information given was true. No answer was given to the questions "Were you ever arrested?" — "if so, were you convicted of a felony?" — "Misdemeanor?", but a line was drawn where the answer should have been written. Immediately above claimant's signature there appeared the statement "that misrepresentation or omission of facts called for in this form is cause for separation from the service of the company." Upon discovering that claimant had been convicted of the crime of counterfeiting and placed on probation for three years only two weeks before he made the application and that he had also been arrested in Puerto Rico, the hotel discharged him. At the hearing claimant testified "if I put a record they will never give me a job. * * * I drew a line because I didn't a [ sic] want to say no. I really knew I was in jail, but I didn't want to put it very clear". Claimant's explanation obviously indicates that he knowingly refrained from answering said questions truthfully and the board properly found that this constituted misconduct in connection with his employment. Decision affirmed, without costs. Gibson, P.J., Herlihy, Reynolds, Aulisi and Gabrielli, JJ., concur in memorandum by Aulisi, J.