Child-care worker who quit over sick baby denied unemployment comp

Sept. 30--A child care worker who quit after her employer refused to send home a baby who had severe diarrhea can't get unemployment compensation, even though her concerns about infection might have been valid.

The problem, a Commonwealth Court panel concluded this week, is that Kathleen M. Scavillo didn't even try to take steps to preserve her job at the Children of America center in Warminster.

It was that shortcoming, not Scavillo's resignation over concerns that she and other children would be infected by the sick child, that prompted the court to rule against her plea for jobless aid in an opinion by Judge James Gardner Colins.

The Jamison woman represented herself when she appealed the case to Commonwealth Court after the state Unemployment Compensation Board of Review denied her comp request. The state judges found Scavillo didn't prove she had a compelling reason to quit, and that she should have tried harder to keep her job.

Scavillo worked for Children of America as a part-time assistant teacher for six years before walking out in the summer of 2015.

According to Colins, she became concerned when a baby with diarrhea who had been sent home the day before was returned to the center still suffering from the ailment. The child's parents had secured a doctor's note allowing the child's return.

Scavillo claimed the problem was so severe the baby required numerous complete clothing changes. She told her employer the child should again be sent home because she feared for her health and that of the other children, but nothing was done.

So she told her boss she was resigning because the center was violating its policy for dealing with sick children, Colins wrote. He noted that the employer did check the center's records and found that four other children had diarrhea, but concluded the cases weren't linked.

Scavillo claimed the center had a policy requiring that ill infants would not be allowed to come back until they were symptom-free for 24 hours. Center officials said the policy allows sick children to be readmitted with a doctor's clearance, Colins noted.

Also, according to the judge, Scavillo's employer said she would have been assigned to a different room when she would not have had to deal with the sick baby had she only asked.

So Scavillo didn't prove she sought a compromise that would have allowed her to keep working, Colins found. "Not only did (she) not ask employer to remove her from exposure to the hazard, she gave employer no opportunity to offer an accommodation," the judge wrote.

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2015/01/woman_who_quit_job_over_child.html

___

(c)2016 The Patriot-News (Harrisburg, Pa.)

Visit The Patriot-News (Harrisburg, Pa.) at www.pennlive.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.