Court denies aid for Monroeville employee fired after drug charge
A Commonwealth Court panel ruled on Monday a former Monroeville municipal employee who was fired for allegedly selling drugs from his home cannot receive unemployment compensation.
Christopher Masters, 46, of Monroeville, argued to the panel he should be eligible for jobless aid because his alleged sale of drugs occurred when he was offduty and did not affect his performance as a public works employee for the municipality.
Masters was fired in September
2019 after Monroeville police officers found a bag of heroin, a bag of cocaine, packaging for drugs and a scale in his home. He received drug charges and was fired by the municipality before his case went through the Allegheny County court system.
Monroeville Municipal Manager Tim Little testified Masters was terminated for violating a provision that bars workers from committing crimes or other acts that reflect badly on the municipality.
Masters asserted to the panel the crimes occurred off premises
and while he was off duty, and thus the municipality was required to demonstrate his misconduct affected his work performance.
Yet state law says an employer is not required to provide such proof, according to an opinion by Judge Patricia A. McCullough.
“He admits he used illegal drugs and dealt illegal drugs from his home,” Judge McCullough wrote. “He does not contest that drug dealing is a violation of [Monroeville’s] rules and policies. He also does not contest that his drug possession and drug dealing were the reasons he was fired. ... We agree [Monroeville] was not required to demonstrate that [Masters’] performance was affected by his off-duty conduct.
“[Masters’] only argument is that [Monroeville] was required to show that his performance was affected due to his off-duty misconduct. ... [ Monroeville] need not make this showing.”
Masters pleaded no contest to a drug possession charge and was sentenced by a county judge to nine months of probation last month, according to court documents.