Pursuant to the grant of his discretionary appeal application, Ali Jamal appeals the superior court’s affirmation, on writ of certiorari, of the board of review’s affirmation of denial of unemployment benefits by the Department of Labor. The appropriate standard of review to be applied to issues of fact on writ of certiorari to the superior court is whether the decision below was supported by any evidence . On appeal to this Court, “our duty is not to review whether the record supports the superior court’s decision but whether the record supports the initial decision of the local governing body or administrative agency.” Cit. Emphasis supplied. City of Atlanta Govt. v. Smith , 228 Ga. App. 864, 865 1 493 SE2d 51 1997; see also Norris v. Henry County , 255 Ga. App. 718, 720 2 566 SE2d 428 2002; Forsyth County v. Childers , 240 Ga. App. 819, 821 2 525 SE2d 390 1999. Here, the Hearing Officer concluded that Jamal “left an assignment for a variety of reasons, but he only told the employer about one of the reasons. The Petitioner did not give the employer an opportunity to deal with all the things he felt were wrong with the assignment. The claimant violated company work rules by leaving the assignment, and disqualification is required.”
For a little over a year, Jamal had worked for GPC Driving, Inc., a dispatch type company where the employer finds customers needing pickup or delivery services and dispatches drivers to the location to provide the services. On February 22, 2002, Jamal was dispatched to a customer to pick up items for ten different deliveries. When he arrived at the customer’s business, he was given a map of the State of Georgia and some telephone numbers for customers at the stops. Jamal then called GPC to complain that he was not being given enough information and could not make the trip with the map he was given. Michelle Eno of GPC spoke to Jamal and then directly with the customer. Jamal testified that GPC often did not inform him of all the requirements of a job assignment and that he was tired of being manipulated. In addition to his problems with directions, Jamal said he was upset at having to use a lift gate type operation to unload and so, that particular day, “I just said, well, this is enough.” Jamal did not tell Eno about the lift gate problem. After speaking with the customer who said the map and numbers should be sufficient, Eno testified that she did not want to argue with Jamal, so she told him to go home and hung up without telling him he was being fired. She then dispatched another driver to the customer who completed the route without problems with the information provided.
