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Roadway Express6/22/1990
ABOOD, Judge.
This is an appeal from a judgment of the Lucas County Court of Common Pleas which affirmed the decision of the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review that appellee, Maurice Rivers, had been discharged without just cause.
Appellant, Roadway Express, Inc., has appealed, setting forth the following assignment of error:
"The lower court improperly affirmed the decision of the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, which decided that appellee Rivers was discharged without just cause, because said decision is against the manifest weight of the evidence and improper as a matter of law."
The facts giving rise to this appeal are as follows. Appellee Rivers was hired by appellant as a diesel mechanic on March 19, 1973. In August 1986, following a disciplinary hearing that he did not attend, Rivers was given a two-day suspension for an accumulation of warning letters for a number of infractions, including poor work performance, absenteeism, tardiness and insubordination. Following the suspension, Rivers filed a grievance in which he asserted that he had not received proper, written notification of that disciplinary hearing and, therefore, he rightfully refused to attend. A grievance hearing was held on September 23, 1986, at which it was determined that Rivers had not been properly notified of the disciplinary hearing and, therefore, he was entitled to two days' back pay. After the grievance hearing, appellant's labor relations manager, Jim O'Neal, announced that within seventy-two hours another hearing would be held on Rivers's accumulated work record. The chief union steward and Rivers's business agent were notified by telegram of a September 26, 1986 hearing. When appellant attempted to deliver written notice of the hearing to Rivers, Rivers refused to accept it, claiming that personal delivery was not a proper means of notification. The September 26, 1986 hearing was set for 7:15 a.m. On that day Rivers, still on the clock, was summoned by his superiors and told to attend the hearing. After speaking with his business agent and his chief union steward, Rivers went to the hearing and stated that he did not believe that he should stay since he felt he had not received proper notification and that he wanted his business agent to handle the matter for him. He then left the room, and the hearing proceeded without him being present. At the conclusion of the hearing, Rivers was discharged for his refusal to follow the direct order which requested his attendance at the hearing.
On September 29, 1986, Rivers filed an application for determination of unemployment benefits with the Ohio Bureau of Unemployment Services ("OBES"). On October 23, 1986, the OBES administrator determined that Rivers had been fired for just cause and denied his application for unemployment compensation. On October 30, 1986, Rivers filed a request for reconsideration of the administrator's decision and on December 2, 1986, the decision of the administrator denying Rivers unemployment compensation was affirmed. On December 15, 1986, Rivers filed a notice of appeal from the administrator's decision on reconsideration to the Ohio Unemployment Compensation Board of Review. On January 7, 1987, a hearing was held before a referee for the board of review. one of the witnesses testifying at the hearing was Joseph E. Guy, a garage manager for appellant. Guy testified that, as he understood it, appellee was fired for refusal to follow a direct order to attend the September 26 meeting and that if he had been there he would not have -been discharged. Guy also testified as to the events surrounding Rivers's refusal to attend the previous hearing on the basis that
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