UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE - VOLUNTARY SEPARATION OR NOT - PART 1

Mailed and Filed: APRIL 01, 2015IN THE MATTER OF: Appeal Board No. 584131:

OPINION: The credible evidence establishes that the claimant was separated from his employment on April 28, 2014. The evidence fails to establish, however, that such separation was voluntary. The claimant was not granted his previously requested and denied three weeks of leave on April 28, 2014, nor had he asked to go on three weeks' leave starting on that date. Rather, the claimant was involuntarily placed on an indefinite leave without pay on April 28, 2014. He was not allowed to work on Tuesday, April 29, 2014, or thereafter, and his inquiries as to why he was then being placed on leave and about returning to work went unanswered by the employer. This was an involuntary separation for unemployment insurance purposes, and accordingly, the determination of voluntary separation without good cause must be overruled. The claimant's signature on the settlement agreement dated June 10, 2014, in which he purportedly resigned effective May 1, 2014, and whatever he may have indicated to the Department of Labor about the reason for his separation when and after he filed his claim are immaterial - as he had already been separated involuntarily for unemployment insurance purposes on April 28, 2014.