The Hawaii Supreme Court has ruled that a woman who was fired for joking about workplace violence is not entitled to unemployment benefits. Such benefits can be denied under state law if a worker was fired for misconduct. The employee, who had worked at the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel for 22 years, was fired after she jokingly placed her hands around a coworker’s neck. (Medeiros v. Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Hawaii Supreme Court, No. 24318, 2005)madeiros_hawaii0206.pdf