## Facts

- Dorothe Stepp worked as a technologist at a medical laboratory testing bodily fluids.
- The laboratory provided safety equipment and a manual reflecting Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidance for handling potentially infectious specimens, and it trained employees on those precautions.
- The lab began receiving specimens labeled with an AIDS warning; Stepp was instructed to test such a specimen and refused.
- Management warned Stepp that refusing to test any specimen would be treated as insubordination and could lead to discipline, including discharge.
- Stepp refused again when directed to test another AIDS-labeled specimen and received a three-day suspension under the lab’s progressive discipline policy.
- During the suspension period, Stepp indicated her objection was based on moral/religious beliefs that AIDS was “God’s plague on man” and that testing AIDS-related specimens was contrary to “God’s will.”
- After returning to work, Stepp again refused to test an AIDS-labeled specimen and was discharged for insubordination.
- Stepp sought unemployment benefits; at the administrative hearing, she testified she had heard of workers contracting AIDS from contaminated fluids but offered no evidence that the lab’s precautions were inadequate or inconsistent with CDC guidance.
- The Employment Security Division Review Board found Stepp was discharged for just cause and denied benefits; Stepp sought judicial review.

## Issues

1. Whether Stepp’s repeated refusal to perform assigned testing of AIDS-labeled specimens constituted discharge for “just cause,” disqualifying her from unemployment benefits.
2. Whether Stepp’s asserted safety concerns or moral/religious objections justified her refusal such that the Board’s “just cause” determination was contrary to law.
3. Whether substantial evidence supported the Board’s finding that the employer’s directives were reasonable and that Stepp knowingly refused them.

## Decision

- The Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed the Review Board’s denial of unemployment benefits.
- The court held substantial evidence supported the finding that Stepp was discharged for just cause due to insubordination.
- The court concluded the employer’s instruction to test AIDS-labeled specimens using provided CDC-based precautions was a reasonable job directive within Stepp’s duties.
- Stepp’s generalized fears and moral/religious objections did not negate the statutory basis for just cause where she presented no evidence of inadequate safety measures.

## Legal Principles

- An employee may be disqualified from unemployment benefits if discharged for just cause, including knowingly refusing to obey reasonable, job-related instructions after notice that refusal may lead to termination.
- In unemployment-review proceedings, appellate courts defer to the administrative board’s factfinding and do not reweigh evidence or reassess credibility; they ask whether substantial evidence supports the decision and whether it is contrary to law.
- A refusal to perform assigned duties is not justified for unemployment purposes where the employer’s safety protocols are reasonable and the claimant offers no objective evidence that the work is unreasonably dangerous.
- Sincere moral or religious objections, standing alone, do not defeat a just-cause finding when the discharge rests on a deliberate refusal to perform reasonable required duties.

## Conclusion

The court upheld the Board’s determination that Stepp’s repeated refusal to test AIDS-labeled specimens—despite reasonable safety measures, training, and clear warnings—constituted insubordination amounting to just cause for discharge, disqualifying her from unemployment benefits.


Stepp v. Emp. Sec. Div. Review Bd., 521 N.E.2d 350 (Ind. Ct. App. 1988)