Commonwealth Court

An upstate man who thought he was being funny when he wrote a vulgarity on a co-worker's car got more - and less - than he bargained for.



For starters, Craig P. Wood Jr. got fired from his sales job at a communications firm.



And on Thursday, a Commonwealth Court panel split 2-1 in upholding a ruling that denies him unemployment compensation on grounds that his axing was based on willful misconduct.



Wood's dilemma can be traced to September 2014 when he wrote that message on the co-worker's auto as it sat in the parking lot outside his company's office in a strip mall, according to the state court majority opinion by Senior Judge Bonnie Brigance Leadbetter.



The co-worker complained, Wood admitted writing the message during his lunch break, and he was promptly fired for violating a company policy that prohibits vandalism and harassment.



Leadbetter noted Wood claimed on appeal that "his actions were nothing more than a joke consistent with jokes that were common in the employer's office." That argument "misses the mark," the judge wrote.



"We have held that vulgarity, even in a single instance, may constitute willful misconduct where the vulgarity us unjustified, unprovoked, unnecessary or uncalled for under the circumstances," she observed.



Senior Judge Rochelle S. Friedman said in her dissenting opinion that she would have given Wood a break and let him have the jobless aid.



Wood wrote on the car with a washable marker, so no damage was caused, Friedman noted. There is no indication Wood engaged in harassing conduct toward his co-worker while at work, she added, and "the incident did not occur in the workplace or on company time."



Wood's "conduct was meant as a joke between him and his co-worker and had nothing to do with the employer," Friedman wrote. "While (Wood's) conduct was questionable, it did not rise to the level of willful misconduct."