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Cheating on examination for disqualifying misconduct for the purposes of claiming unemployment insurance benefits
Kinch v Sweeney, Appellate Division, 244 AD2d 748

The Kinch case involved the dismissal of an individual found to have cheated on an examination.

Alden R. Kinch, a flight attendant, was discharged on the grounds that he had attempted to cheat on his annual Federal Aviation Authority examination.

The State's Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board ruled that Kinch had been discharged for a disqualifying reason and rejected his application for unemployment insurance benefits. The Appellate Division sustained the board's determination.

The court said that the Board's ruling, holding that Kinch's "apparent dishonesty in cheating ... was sufficient to constitute disqualifying misconduct" and was also potentially detrimental to his employer's interests in that it nullified the examination's accuracy in assessing whether he possessed the knowledge necessary to perform his job.

Probably the courts would adopt the same rationale in cases involving cheating on tests for unlawful drugs.
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Full post as published by New York Public Personnel Law on September 24, 2010 (boomark / email).