June 28, 1974, a central office representative disqualified the claimant for benefits because: "On May 10, 1974, the claimant left his employment when his hours were changed. Separation not attributable to the employer."

From this determination the claimant appealed. A hearing is scheduled at Davenport, Iowa July 18, 1974 before myself, Thomas B. Irvine. Statutory notices were issued. The claimant appeared in person with witness, what is your name? Robert Wilhelm. There was no appearance by the employer. In these matters we do not follow the usual rules of court procedure. I will make the decision in this matter and it will become final unless an appeal is filed within ten days of the mailing of this decision. All testimony will be received at this hearing. No more testimony will be heard on further appeal by the Commission. The benefit file is part of the record of this hearing.

As this testimony will be received under oath, do you both solemnly swear that the testimony you give in this hearing will be the truth, so help you God? I do. (answered simultaneously)

Q. Mr. Leese, you were employed by the Mississsippi River Grain from October 1, 1973 until May 10, 1974. Is that right?

John W. Leese, being duly sworn testified as follows:

JOHN LEESE. Yes, sir.

Q. What was your specific job there?

JOHN LEESE. I was hired as weigh master.

Q. Weigh master.

JOHN LEESE. Yes, weigh master and grader.

Q. And the hours you put in a week?

JOHN LEESE. Well, we was working then-we started working from 7:00 in the morning until we finished, that night. It could be 5:00 at night, it could be 8:00 at night, it could be 10:00 at night. Supposed to have been 5:30.

Q. And your pay was about how much an hour?

JOHN LEESE. Well, they started us out at $3.50 an hour.

Q. $3.50, right sir?

JOHN LEESE. We was promised at the end of 60 days $4.65 which we never got.

Q. Your appeal dated, this copy I can't read-July 3, 1974 you state: "I was working from 7:00 or 8:00 a.m. until finished at the Mississsippi River Grain elevator. I was notified that Mrs. Henderickson who had less seniority at the company was being switched to my job and that I would have to take the hours that were left. I feel that this was discriminating. I do not have to be dishonest to hold down a job. They told me to commit a misdemeanor by judging grade on corn and beans."

JOHN LEESE. By misgrading, misjudging, misrepresentation of grading.
Q. Well, then, would you please explain that?

JOHN LEESE. Yes, sir. We have a federal chart we go by grading of corn and beans. And this is a standard through the United States, and you're allowed a certain percent of moisture, a certain percentage of foreign material and a certain percent of damage before there's a dockage. Well, in beans in particular you're allowed one percent foreign material before there's a dockage consists, this dockage would run this through milligrams and kilograms, break it down. 800 bushel, 900 bushel to the categories which we use charts. All right if we did this process and we had like one percent foreign material Mr. Glochis title is superintendent, I think he says on the letter, supervisor, would tell me to put down 1.4, 1.5, 1.6. Now this doesn't consist of much, it consists of between three to eight cents a bushel, which doesn't sound like much. Averaged around 800 bushel to a truck. You multiply that by 5 that's $40. You take $40.00 and run an average of 100 trucks you're dealing with $4,000.00. Now this is a federal misdemeanor under the government. Under the state is a misdemeanor. The County Attorney gave me a code down here of 543.30, the penalty of the violation of this law is under 543.36. It's a misdemeanor, state, a fine of $100.00 with not less than 30 days in jail which multiplies over a period of years into hundreds of thousands of dollars. I see no sense in me taking a federal rap and another misdmeanor or I'll never be eligible for being bonded by another company for this. This is one of the reasons this built up to this; me quitting.

Q. He requested that you change

JOHN LEESE. That we change the grades-misrepresent the grades, you might call it.

Q. Change the grading of it?

JOHN LEESE. Right. Then your moisture that's allowed on corn, for instance,

15.5. Well, if you had 15.5 he might tell you to make it 15.6. There you pick up another one or two cents a bushel. This multiples into quite a sum of money. Most your elevators realize the fact what pretty close to what they got, and the first thing you've got yourself is a bad reputation and the next thing you have you have state investigators and federal investigators out on you and I worked in these mills for about seven, eight years and I never had to be dishonest before.

Q. That's the reason that you quit?

JOHN LEESE. Yes, that is part of the reason. Another reason is on the safety factors. They had no conscientious whether you fired or whether you didn't do it. For instance, I had an opening of approximately ten feet to go across the window in. The man wanted me to put a plank from the window sill which is slanting, and lay it on top a thin metal guard rail. Then I was supposed to walk the plank over this out there and put these windows in. No safety belts, no safety equipment. This is strictly violation of code of the law. I asked for safety belts. Said I could rig up a rigging and put this safety belt on and fasten a security rope so if I fell I didn't go down straight 75 feet, that's how high it was in the air. And I told him I says, "You give me a safety belt and I'll do it." He says, "You do it anyhow or you will be fired." That was one of them. There's no escape hatch in our man lift.

If we got trapped in there there was no escape hatch. This is a violation of OSHA law which we got trapped in the elevator. The elevator quit working, man lift or elevator, whichever you want to call it. We got trapped in between floors and we sit there and we crawled out stepping on a little railing it depends upon where this thing was that particular day we was approximately 100 feet in the air. We sit and wedged the doors open. No escape ladder on the inside so we could escape. Otherwise we sat there until this thing got repaired which was about a week and a half later. And we set there and opened the door, wedged the doors open, climbed down on a little bit of a metal rail over a guard book. No excuse. This is another one of their hazardous occupation. Down on the barge we had no fish baskets. It was just no roll bars on your tractor, you rode it on the trains, if you rolled the tractor it was just tough. There's a lot of violations of safety they just don't care about whether you get hurt or whether you don't it don't seem to matter. They can get another body. That was the attitude they had towards it. And the hours, they had sent us home one particular day, they wouldn't pay us everything over eight hours a day. We'd work maybe 10, 12 hours a day and they'd come along and say, well, the barge wasn't gonna be in, it was towed up river, it won't be in until 8:00 tonight. Go home at noon. You come back at 10:00 at night, we'll call you. You go home. You stand by. We're supposed to be there. They expected us. When that phone rang we was supposed to come right back to work. But, we didn't get paid for any of this time. They sent us home so we had 32 hours in, they sent us home and we got overtime involved in it, they sent us home so then we don't get paid for none of our overtime. They said it had to be over 40 hours a week before we got paid overtime.

On this last deal that they hired this woman through the employment bureau the record should show it, not only me discriminating, but discrimination against other employees as well. They threaten to fire people, everybody. If you had a day's whiskers they threatened to fire you, if you don't get your whiskers shaved like I have right now which isn't too bad. But the environment we worked in, the dust and the dirt, that was all right, but if you didn't shave every day it was holler. They promised this woman it come right through here, $4.12 an hour. What'd they do? They give her $3.00 an hour. Promised the rest of the money in 60 days and she didn't yet. The same with me. They promised me I was working for Long Manufacturing and they called me, I had put the application in, promised me definitely at the end of 60 days if I know what I was talking about, the elevator loading barges and everything around it, that I would get minimum of $4.65 an hour. At the end of this time they give me $4.12 an hour, and says take it or leave it.

Q. Are you presently employed?

JOHN LEESE. No, sir.

Q. All right, you're trying to find employment?

JOHN LEESE. Yes, sir. I knew what they was talking about in these elevators because I've taught Mr. Wilhelm here who is with me how to grade, weigh the general principles of an elevator. I taught other fellows the general principles of running an elevator. There wasn't nothing that they could say that I wasn't

qualified because the qualifications is what I was teaching other men. Then when they came along we had problem with this man, he was a homosexual, a queer, in otherwords we call them. And I told the boss about it and he told me I wouldn't have to work with this guy anymore.

So when they changed these hours then I had to work with this queer again. And every time I'd turn around, you had work to do, this was dangerous, a man reaching over and patting you on the rump which I didn't think I had to tolerate. This was working when they changed my hours from this 7:00 till we got finished till 9:00 till 5:00 at night I had to work with this man. And the other guy I had to work with, we called him the human destroyer. He had no sense of the capability of any piece of machinery. Winches, tear winches and cables to pieces, he was a very highly dangerous man to work with. And the bosses knew this. And I seen no sense in my jeopardizing my health and my life on account of working with a queer and the human destroyer. He broke anything he touched his hands on. He had no brains at all upstairs.

Q. Mr. Welhelm, please explain, you were employed around there at the same time? Is that correct?

Robert Wilhelm; being duly sworn testified as follows:

ROBERT WILHELM. Yes. I worked there for five months.

Q. Are you still employed there?

ROBERT WILHELM. No, I got fired about three months ago for something I didn't do.

Q. Do you corroborate this prior testimony?

ROBERT WILHELM. Yes, I do, 100 percent.

Q. All right. I believe that's quite sufficient then. I'll prepare the decision on this

JOHN LEESE. Another thing I want to bring

Q. A copy of which I'll put in the mail in about a week.

JOHN LEESE. This hearing is still open, isn't it? Another thing I brought-this is a very highly violation of the government rules, receiving of mercury corn. If you don't understand that, before a final decisions' on this I wish you would contact the government office. We received mercury corn. We brought this to the attention of our boss.

Q. What is mercury corn?

JOHN LEESE. Mecury corn is treated with chemicals called mercury.

Q. I see.

JOHN LEESE. It's treated-this is a seed corn. The seed corn is treated with the mercury so the bugs don't eat it.

Q. But how is it treated?

JOHN LEESE. This mercury is pinkish corn. You can see it under a blue light or black light it will show up and be real glossy, highly glossy. We brought it to his attention

Q. Disinfected, you mean?

JOHN LEESE. Pardon?

Q. It was disinfected. I presume

JOHN LEESE. This was what they call seed corn or mercury treated. You mention mercury treated to any government agency and they'll know what you're talking about. Or state agencies. Now the problem with this is, you can takereceive this it should be destroyed. Federal government requires this. Any time you receive mercury-treated corn. This whole bin is supposed to be destroyed because it will destroy humans. The way it works is that mercury corn will be fed to an animal. The animal will be destroyed for the purpose of consumption by humans. When you receive this this mercury stays in the meat of this animal. You jeopardize hundreds of lives, whatever parties that ate off of this meat. It can make you go blind, deaf, go crazy, and kill you. And this is a very very strict regulation that these things are supposed to be destroyed, the whole entire bin.

Q. It's pretty poisonous, then?

JOHN LEESE. It's highly poisonous, then before the decision is made before the state board I wish that you would check in any government agency or state agency I think it comes under the warehousemen's act, or you can go through this government agency that controls food, I forget the names of it all now, and check with them what mercury treated which it will be of the meat, to find out the violations. I don't want to be responsible for somebody's death either. Q. All right, sir, I think this is quite sufficient?

(Record Closed)

I hereby certify that the foregoing is a correct, true and complete transcript of the recording machine records taken in the above-entitled cause; that it contains, together with the documentary evidence and exhibits therein referred to, all of the evidence that was offered or introduced on the trial of said cause, and all objections and rulings made and exceptions taken. Thomas B. Irvin, Hearing Officer

Witness my hand this 19th day of August, 1974

Transcriber Operator

I hereby certify that the recording machine records transcribed were those made at the aforementioned hearing.

Hearing Officer

NOTIFICATION TO THE RESPONDENT

Claimaint: John W. Leese.
Appellant: Mississippi River Grain.
Street: South Concord and Utah.
City and State: Davenport, Iowa 52803.
Respondent: John W. Leese.
Street: 2215 West 14th Street.

City and State: Davenport, Iowa 52804.

Area Office: Davenport, Iowa.
Office and County Number: 882-82.
Subject: Your communication of August
12, 1974.1

Social Security Number: 485-24-3114.
Issue(s) involved section: 96.5.

This is your copy of an appeal made by the other party to the decision that you recently received, the text of this appeal.

We had no specific "contract of hire" with the claimant relative to either job classification or work schedule. He was not hired specifically as weighmaster although this was one of the jobs he did perform. He was classified as a laborer and was to work wherever needed.

Prior to the claimant's being hired he was told that the hours would be flexible. That this is necessary in the grain business.

Because claimant did not want any overtime we had to change his hours even more than would have been necessary. It was necessary to operate for 10 hrs. Because claimant would not work overtime, other employees had to work more hours to pick up the slack.

He was to start at 7 a.m. but in order to comply with his wishes we changed his starting time to 9 a.m. Because of having just a few employees, this worked a hardship on the other employees.

He was never requested to change the grading on the grain.

(1) There is every kind of safety precaution possible.

If your appeal is to a hearing officer, you will be informed of the hearing date as well as the resulting decision.

If your appeal is to the commission, a decision will be made by the commission based on a review of the existing evidence. You will receive a transcript of the initial hearing and will be given an opportunity to file a written brief after its receipt. If a hearing is necessary, you will be notified of the date of the appearance. The resulting decision will be mailed to you.

1 On appeals accepted by mail, the postmark date will govern timeliness.

If you wish to withdraw your appeal, it will be dismissed at your written request.

Attention: Employer and claimant-An appeal by an employer will not interrupt payment of unemployment insurance; however, a reversal or modification in a decision on misconduct or allowances will require repayment of benefits by the claimant in event an overpayment results. Employer charges will be set aside for such resulting overpayments.

To the claimant-if unemployed, it is important that you continue reporting on your claim until notified of the resulting decision.

Iowa Employment Security Commission: 1000 East Grand Avenue: Des Moines, Iowa 50319.

John W. Leese appealed from the determination of a representative which disqualified him for benefits because he had left his employment with Mississippi River Grain voluntarily without good cause attributable to the employer. A hearing was held at Davenport, Iowa on July 18, 1974, and due notices issued. The claimant appeared in person with a witnesss, Robert Wilhelm. There was no appearance by the employer.

Findings of fact:

The hearing officer, having heard the testimony and considered the evidence in the record, finds that: John W. Leese was employed by Mississippi River Grain from October 1, 1973, to May 10, 1974, as a weighmaster, working generally more than forty hours a week for $3.50 an hour. The testimony revealed that the claimant had left this employment because the original contract of hire had been changed by changing his hours, and because he was asked to change the grading on grain by the employers and also because there were no safety precautions required. The employer did not appear to refute this testimony. An original claim was filed effective May 12, 1974. The claimant is not presently employed.

REASONING AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

Section 96.5-1-g of the IOWA CODE provides: "An individual shall be disqualified for benefits: If he has left his work voluntarily without good cause attributable to his employer, if so found by the commission. But he shall not be disqualified if the commission finds that: