He Slept With Boss’s Wife, Collected Unemployment

(CN) - A screen printing company must pay unemployment insurance to a worker who was fired because he had an affair with the wife of the company's owner, the Idaho Supreme Court ruled.

Jerry Fraley contested the state's award of benefits to Daniel Flowers, who was fired in September 2008. "He testified that Flowers had a relationship with Mrs. Fraley, a part-time Shenango employee and Fraley's wife, and subsequently lied about the affair on several occasions when confronted at the workplace," the ruling states.

Other workers were unsettled by the affair and refused to work with Flowers, Fraley testified, according to the ruling.

The appeals examiner found that Flowers still deserved unemployment benefits since Fraley did not prove the misconduct was sufficiently connected to his work.

In an opinion by Justice Joel Horton, the Idaho Supreme Court found that Shenango failed to prove that the affair even occurred since Fraley would not let his wife or other employees testify.

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