A Pennsylvania appeals court rejected Armstrong World Industries’ (Lancaster, Pa.) attempt to deny unemployment compensation to a former worker who was let go after he engaged in a fight with another worker, according to PennLive.
Armstrong had argued that the worker, Albert Miller, an employee for more than 12 years, willfully violated the company’s zero-tolerance policy for workplace violence when he fought with another man in a company locker room, according to PennLive.
However, the state Unemployment Compensation Board of Review and now the state appeals court ruled that Miller was not the aggressor and had the right to defend himself. The other man, Miller told the court, had hit his own head against the wall and threatened to tell police that Miller assaulted him.
Miller told the court he never hit the man, but did wrestle him to the floor. They were both fired, though the company’s zero-tolerance policy for violence does allow for lesser punishments, Armstrong’s human relations manager testified. The decision to fire the men was made at the corporate level, she said.
"The (compensation) review board found that (Miller) was acting, at all times, in self-defense and concluded that his actions did not amount to willful misconduct," Appeals Court Jude Patricia McCullough wrote. "It appears that the board engaged in a proper analysis in reaching this conclusion."
