UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE - VOLUNTARY SEPARATION

Health issues may establish "good cause" for a voluntary separation but as these cases demonstrate from the Appeals Board web site, proof must be supplied and you must have exhausted all means to continue employment:

Working conditions which adversely affected health constituted good cause for voluntary leaving of employment. (A.B. 6275-41; )

Physical inability to continue former work does not constitute good cause for voluntarily leaving employment when claimant fails to exercise the right, provided under the union agreement. of demanding work not detrimental to her health, being performed by others with less seniority. (A.B. 33,924-52; )

Claimant, whose health was adversely affected by her work but who refused transfers
to locations which would overcome the objections and at similar work, was held to have voluntarily quit without good cause. (A.B. 11,524; )

Failure to substantiate claimed adverse effect of working conditions on health resulted in finding that good cause for voluntary leaving did not exist. Medical certificate, because obtained after interview at Insurance Section, had little weight. (A.B. 6143-41; ; similarly, A.B. 12,910-46)

Doctor's certificate that claimant "feels that riding in trains and subways causes frequent colds ... avoidance of commutation advisable" at the most shows agreement by the doctor that claimant might feel better if commuting to the employer's new place of business were not required but is insufficient proof that claimant was compelled to leave the job for health reasons. (A.B. 39,825- 53; )

Failure to apply for a "trip-off" by a seaman who left his employment at the end of the voyage because of illness, held to constitute a voluntary leaving without good cause. (A.B. 21,112- 49; ; similarly, A.B. 27,947-51)

A seaman who did not request a "trip-off" upon leaving his employment because of illness, left with good cause when his vessel was operating on trips from two to seven months duration and by registering for new work after becoming well, he had prospects of obtaining a job within a month. (A.B. 26,205-51; )

Lack of heat for a short time prior to the heating season, which allegedly caused a cold which lasted one or two days, is not good cause for voluntary leaving of employment since to be detrimental to health a causative condition must be a continuing condition. (A.B. 18,923-49; )

Discharge for failure to report for work on a date set by her employer, based on a single examination by its doctor, is a loss of employment under non-disqualifying conditions if the claimant's own physician has determined, based on a continuing course of treatment, that she was unable to work at that time. (A.B. 401,183; )

(a) Claimant was discharged when he notified his employer of his admittance to a hospital for drug rehabilitation sometime after being admitted. Claimant's absenteeism is not excused because it was caused by his admittance to a drug abuse rehabilitation program inasmuch as his drug abuse problem was a foreseeable result of his use of an illegal substance.

(b) After reemployment, it was not good cause for claimant to voluntarily leave his job in order to avoid the location near the worksite where alleged drugs were available for purchase. (A.B. 409,188; )