Gall: Fired Mizzou Professor Who Called For 'Muscle' Fighting ForUnemployment Benefits People fired for "professional misconduct" are not eligible...

Gall: Fired Mizzou Professor Who Called For 'Muscle' Fighting ForUnemployment Benefits

People fired for "professional misconduct" are not eligible...

6.28.2016 

 

News

 

 Tiffany Gabbay 

 

6

AddThis Sharing Buttons

Remember University of Missouri assistant professor Melissa Click? She's the one who called for "muscle" in removing a journalist from lawfully covering a campus protest. As a result, Click was fired from her post by Mizzou's Board of Curators in February on grounds of professional misconduct.

Now, anyone who's ever filed an unemployment claim knows full well that being fired for misconduct nullifies one's eligibility to collect benefits. Not in Click's self-entitled mind, however. After being publicly disgraced, Click still had the hubris to hire attorneys and fight the university's decision to refuse her unemployment benefits. The Columbia Tribune reports: 

A hearing was held Wednesday in Jefferson City by a referee who takes evidence in appeals filed by employers and employees after a decision is made on an initial application for benefits. The university in February hired attorney Chuck Hatfield of Stinson Leonard Street LLP “for advice and representation regarding separation of employment of Melissa Click, including claims asserted by Ms. Click and related legal proceedings,” according to an engagement letter from the firm.

The university is fighting Click’s unemployment claim “because according to state statute, an employee is not entitled to unemployment benefits when discharged for misconduct,” UM System spokesman John Fougere wrote in an email.

The video [in which Click was seen intimidating the journalist) generated harsh reaction from First Amendment advocates and conservative Republican lawmakers, who called for Click’s dismissal. She apologized the day after the incidents, but Schierbecker persisted in seeking a criminal charge for assault, filed Jan. 25.

The charge, filed in municipal court, was not prosecuted after Click agreed to terms that included community service. The board voted 4-2 to fire Click and, after she appealed the decision, affirmed it in March.

Now, just like in other states, Missouri law mandates that unemployment can be denied for either voluntarily leaving a job or for "work-related misconduct," Click's case falling into the latter category.

Clearly Click thinks herself above the law -- in other words, she's just remaining true to character.