Opinion
Argued April 9, 1980
June 27, 1980.
Unemployment compensation — Scope of appellate review.
1. The Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, as the ultimate factfinder in unemployment compensation cases, resolves conflicts in the testimony, decides issues of credibility, and determines the weight to be given to the evidence; absent a capricious disregard of competent evidence, the Board's findings are binding on the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. [387-8]
Argued April 9, 1980, before Judges MENCER, ROGERS and MacPHAIL, sitting as a, panel of three.
Appeal, No. 1164 C.D. 1978, from the Order of the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review in case of In Re: Claim of Helen Pozeynot, No. B-156956.
Application to the Bureau of Employment Security for unemployment compensation benefits. Application denied. Applicant appealed to the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review. Appeal denied. Applicant appealed to the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. Held: Affirmed.
Helen Pozeynot, Pro Se, petitioner.
William J. Kennedy, Assistant Attorney General, with him Richard Wagner, Chief Counsel and Edward G. Biester, Jr., Attorney General, for respondent.
In this unemployment compensation appeal, Helen Pozeynot (claimant) contests the, Board's findings that she voluntarily terminated her employment with Allen Pontiac, Inc., without cause of a necessitous and compelling nature, pursuant to Section 402(b)(1) of the Unemployment Compensation Law, Act of December 5, 1936, Second Ex. Sess., P.L. (1937) 2897, as amended, 43 P. S. § 802(b)(1). Claimant contends that she was fired for asking to go home early on a snowy day and that the Board erred in accepting the testimony of the employer's representatives that she quit after she was told she would have to make up the time if she left early. We have repeatedly held, however, that the Board, as the ultimate factfinder, resolves conflicts in the testimony, decides issues of credibility, and determines the weight to be given to the evidence. See, e.g., Unemployment Compensation Board of Review v. Wright, 21 Pa. Commw. 637, 347 A.2d 328 (1975). Absent a capricious disregard of competent evidence, which we do not find, the Board's findings are binding on this court. See Miller v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 29 Pa. Commw. 541, 372 A.2d 35 (1977). In view of these findings, we agree that claimant is disqualified from benefits under Section 402(b)(1). See Nolte v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 24 Pa. Commw. 541, 358 A.2d 114 (1976) (mere dissatisfaction with working conditions is not a necessitous and compelling reason to voluntarily terminate one's employment).
Accordingly, we enter the following
ORDER
AND NOW, this 27th day of June, 1980, the order of the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, dated May 3, 1978, denying unemployment compensation benefits to Helen Pozeynot, is hereby affirmed.