DES MOINES, Iowa -- No work, no pay.Unemployment benefits are being denied to an Iowa hotel worker who was fired for using her employer's computer to keep a journal of her efforts to avoid work.
A supervisor found the journal late last year and fired Emmalee Bauer, 25, for misuse of company time.Bauer wrote a 300-page single-spaced pages, describing her efforts to avoid work. "This typing thing seems to be doing the trick," she wrote. "It just looks like I am hard at work on something very important."
The journal was entered into evidence at a recent state hearing dealing with Bauer's request for unemployment benefits. Bauer testified the journal was intended to help her deal with anxiety and frustration.
Bauer also wrote: "I am only here for the money and, lately, for the printer access. I haven't really accomplished anything in a long while ... and I am still getting paid more than I ever have at a job before, with less to do than I have ever had before. It's actually quite nice when I think of it that way. I can shop online, play games and read message boards and still get paid for it."
Administrative Law Judge Susan Ackerman denied Bauer's request. The judge said the journal demonstrated Bauer's refusal to work, as well as her "amusement at getting away with it."
Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press.
