Burger v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review

**What happened:** An employee at Garvey Manor lost her job due to drug use that occurred outside of work hours. When she applied for unemployment benefits, her claim was initially denied because the state argued that her off-duty drug use counted as "willful misconduct" that made her ineligible for benefits. The employee challenged this decision, arguing that what she did on her own time shouldn't disqualify her from receiving unemployment compensation. **What the court decided:** The Pennsylvania Supreme Court sided with the employee. The court ruled that using drugs outside of work hours does not automatically count as willful misconduct under state unemployment law, especially when the drug use didn't impact her actual job performance. The court reversed the lower court's decision and sent the case back to calculate the unemployment benefits she should receive. **Why this matters for workers:** This ruling protects workers' rights to unemployment benefits when they're fired for off-duty conduct that doesn't directly affect their work performance. It establishes that employers can't necessarily deny unemployment claims just because an employee engaged in problematic behavior outside the workplace, as long as that behavior didn't interfere with their job duties.