Commonwealth Court

A mail carrier who was fired for losing his driver's license due to a DUI isn't eligible for unemployment compensation, a Commonwealth Court panel found.

A mail carrier who was fired after being convicted of drunken driving and losing his driver's license for three years isn't eligible for unemployment compensation, a Commonwealth Court panel ruled Tuesday.



Judge Julia K. Hearthway concluded in the state court opinion that it is Scott Ratkovitch's own fault that he lost his job. And the nature of his firing amounts to willful misconduct, she found.



Hearthway's ruling also highlights a U.S. Postal Service policy that can spare some letter carriers from losing their jobs when they lose their driver's licenses. The service allows carriers whose licenses are suspended for drunken driving or other reasons to hire another licensed person to drive them on their routes.



However, they can only use a designated driver for up to a year. The policy enabled Ratkovich to keep his job for a year after losing his license, but the Postal Service canned him at the end of that grace period, court filings show.



In appealing the denial of his unemployment comp, the New Castle man challenged the willful misconduct finding. The state Unemployment Compensation Board of Review found that his loss of license amounted to willful misconduct because he needed a valid driver's license to perform his mail carrier job.



Ratkovich claimed the willful misconduct finding should have been overturned because he was not on duty and was driving his private car when he got the DUI.



"Incidents leading to the loss of driving privileges that are the fault of the employee can constitute willful misconduct, regardless of whether the incident occurred in the employer's vehicle or the employee's personal vehicle," Hearthway countered. She added that Ratkovich's conviction "made the execution of his work duties impossible."



The judge also rejected Ratkovich's arguments that the Postal Service should have extended his designated driver grace period to cover the full three years of his license suspension, or transferred him to a job that didn't require driving.



"The fact that (Ratkovich) can imagine employer responses to his willful misconduct other than termination does not render him eligible for (jobless) benefits," Hearthway wrote.



