Top 10 Wackiest Employment Law Cases
As part of our ongoing commitment to providing our loyal viewers with the finest in employment law education, today we’re launching a new feature in which we’ll be counting down the Top Ten Wackiest Employment Law Cases.
Without further ado, here’s #10 . . .
SECURITY GUARD FIRED FOR SEEING GHOSTS ENTITLED TO UC BENEFITS
We start out in the great state of Iowa, where Wade Gallegos of Des Moines was fired from his security guard job for “seeing ghosts.”
According to state records, Gallegos was dutifully tending his post one night when suddenly a group of ghosts appeared on the scene, standing by a nearby car. Gallegos immediately summoned his supervisor and asked to be excused from duty. Unfortunately for Gallegos, the supervisor was unable to see the ghosts. He fired Gallegos five hours later.
When Gallegos sought unemployment benefits, the company challenged his application, arguing that he was fired for misconduct. The administrative law judge ruled that Gallegos’ visions of ghosts did render him unfit to be a security guard. However, the judge ultimately ruled in Gallegos’ favor, finding that the ghost-sightings were not the type of misconduct justifying a disqualification from benefits.
Afterward, Gallegos was still at a loss to explain the incident, saying ”It was kind of like one of those out-of-body experiences.” My guess is that his employer felt pretty much the same way.
#9 will be coming your way soon.
