Opinion
92303
January 30, 2003.
Appeal from a decision of the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board, filed June 26, 2002, which ruled that claimant was disqualified from receiving unemployment insurance benefits because his employment was terminated due to misconduct.
Nathaniel McCray Jr., New York City, appellant pro se.
Eliot Spitzer, Attorney General, New York City (Linda D. Joseph of counsel), for respondent.
Before: Cardona, P.J., Mercure, Crew III, Lahtinen and Kane, JJ.
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
Substantial evidence supports the decision of the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board finding that claimant lost his employment as a security guard due to disqualifying misconduct for fighting on the job with a coworker. Fighting with a coworker at work, regardless of who initiates the altercation, can constitute disqualifying misconduct (see Matter of Romano [Commissioner of Labor], 291 A.D.2d 776; Matter of Benton [Avon Injected Rubber Plastics — Commissioner of Labor], 268 A.D.2d 936). Although claimant disagreed with the shift supervisor's testimony that claimant participated in the altercation by throwing punches at his coworker, this created a credibility issue for the Board to resolve (see Matter of Perez [Commissioner of Labor], 284 A.D.2d 705).
Cardona, P.J., Mercure, Crew III, Lahtinen and Kane, JJ. concur.
ORDERED that the decision is affirmed, without costs.