GRACE GIACCHI v. BOARD OF REVIEW, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, BACKSMART WELLNESS CENTER et al.

(NOTE: The status of this decision is published.)
 

NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE

APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION

SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY

APPELLATE DIVISION

DOCKET NO. A-2963-06T12963-06T1

GRACE GIACCHI,

Appellant,

v.

BOARD OF REVIEW, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR,

BACKSMART WELLNESS CENTER and

MICHAEL LAGANA, M.D.,

Respondent.

______________________________________________________________

 

Submitted May 28, 2008 - Decided

Before Judges Coburn and Fuentes.

On appeal from a Final Decision of the

Board of Review, 111,153.

Grace Frances Giacchi, appellant pro se.

Anne Milgram, Attorney General, attorney for

respondent Board of Review (Lewis A. Scheindlin,

Assistant Attorney General, of counsel; Brady

Montalbano Connaughton, Deputy Attorney General,

on the brief).

PER CURIAM

This is an appeal from a final decision of the Board of Review denying Grace Giacchi unemployment compensation benefits on the ground that she left work voluntarily without good cause attributable to the work.

The Board found the following facts. Giacchi worked for her employer as a manager from September 19, 2005 through April 6, 2006. Her reasons for leaving were that she was not paid overtime, even though she understood that her employer did not pay overtime; that she did not get a salary raise; and that she received instructions from her employer's wife that she considered insulting.

The Board concluded that Giacchi left work without good cause attributable to the work. N.J.S.A. 43:21-5(a).

"Good cause" is defined as "a reason related directly to the individual's employment, which was so compelling as to give the individual no choice but to leave the employment." N.J.A.C. 12:17-9.1(b). Mere dissatisfaction with working conditions that are not abnormal and do not affect health does not constitute good cause. Domenico v. Bd. of Review, 192 N.J. Super. 284, 288 (App. Div. 1983). Thus, although intentional harassment may justify leaving, Associated Util. Servs., Inc. v. Bd. of Review, 131 N.J. Super. 584, 587 (App. Div. 1974), ordinary criticism does not.

We note that because Giacchi was a manager she had no legal right to overtime pay. N.J.S.A. 34:11-56a4 (exemptions defined at N.J.A.C. 12:56-7.1 through 7.4). And the failure to receive a raise does provide good cause for quitting under the statute. DeSantis v. Bd. of Review, 149 N.J. Super. 35, 38 (App. Div. 1977).

The scope of our review is narrow. Brady v. Bd. of Review, 152 N.J. 197, 210 (1997). When, as here, the Board's factual finding are supported by sufficient credible evidence in the record, we are obliged to accept them. Ibid. Since the decision is neither arbitrary, capricious nor unreasonable, ibid., we are obliged to affirm.

Giacchi's challenges to the procedures followed by Department of Labor are without sufficient merit to warrant discussion in a written opinion. R. 2:11-3(e)(1)(E).

Affirmed.

 

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A-2963-06T1

June 12, 2008