A recent Tennessee Court of Appeals decision involving a claim for unemployment benefits reiterated the general principle that ordinarily, an employee’s conduct off the working premises and outside the course and scope of his employment is not considered misconduct connected with work. Dura Auto Sys. v. Neeley

In Dura Automotive Systems v. Neeley, the claimant was terminated by his employer after it learned that the claimant admitted to smoking marijuana outside of work. The employer had a policy prohibiting its employees from using illegal drugs.

After termination, the claimant filed for unemployment benefits. His claim was denied by the Agency, which found that the claimant engaged in work related misconduct under Tenn. Code Ann. 50-7-303(a)(2)(A). The Appeals Tribunal reversed the Agency’s decision finding that the claimant had passed the company’s drug test (even though the claimant had admitted to smoking marijuana in the past) and that the claimant’s work performance had not been affected by his use of marijuana. Therefore, the claimant had not committed “misconduct connected with the claimant’s work” as required by Tennessee law to disqualify a claimant from receiving unemployment benefits.

The Board of Review affirmed the decision of the Appeals Tribunal awarding unemployment benefits, but the Chancery Court reversed the decision finding that the claimant had committed misconduct.

On appeal to the Tennessee Court of Appeals, the court agreed with the Appeals Tribunal finding that the employer had failed to demonstrate that the claimant’s drug use actually had any adverse effect on the claimant’s work and that the claimant had also passed the drug test required by the employer. Thus, the court of appeals concluded that the claimant’s conduct may have provided the employer an adequate basis to discharge him, but it did not warrant denying the claimant unemployment compensation.

In sum, despite an employee’s off site illegal conduct serving as a legitimate basis for termination, unless the conduct is connected to the employee’s work, it will not disqualify the employee from recovering unemployment benefits.