An appeals court Thursday overruled the finding of a state unemployment insurance appeal board that a man fired for getting into a fistfight with a co-worker at a Christmas Party in 2011 should be allowed to collect unemployment insurance benefits.

The appeal board had found that the anti-fighting policy of Nucor Steel Auburn did not apply to the time or place of the fight—a company party at a bar off working hours—and that Jeffrey Moniz's behavior was not disqualifying misconduct under the meaning of unemployment insurance laws.

But Justice Christine Clark wrote for a unanimous panel of the Appellate Division, Third Department, in Moniz v. Nucor Steel Auburn, 518275, that the crucial factor in determining Moniz's eligibility for benefits was not when and where the fight occurred, but, rather, whether the fight was related to Moniz's job duties.