Fair v. St. Joseph's Hospital, Inc.

LEWIS, Judge.

Vanessa Fair (“petitioner”) was discharged from her position as a health unit coordinator at St. Joseph’s Hospital for fighting with a co-worker. The evidence shows that one of petitioner’s coworkers “popped” her with a rubber band and that petitioner, reacting in the “heat of anger,” assaulted the co-worker by shoving her into a medical cart and then hitting her in the right eye. Petitioner was thereafter discharged for wilfully and without good cause violating a company policy which prohibited fighting.

Petitioner made a claim for benefits under N.C.G.S. § 96-15(a) and a hearing…