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Quitting vs. Unemployment Claims

Written by: Betsey Nash

Article Overview: Can an employee collect unemployment insurance if they voluntarily quit?

Quitting vs. Unemployment Claims

Can an employee collect unemployment insurance if they voluntarily quit?

You’ve seen it in the movies a hundred times: Boss says, “You’re fired!” Employee replies, “You can’t fire me; I quit!” and storms out of the room.

Cut to the next scene: HR manager pulling her hair out, trying to figure out the best way to characterize this separation.

Choices?
1. If the employee is fired, they think they can collect unemployment.
2. If the employee quits, the employer thinks the employee cannot collect

Wish it were that simple. The following scenarios should help:

Scenario 1: The usual criterion is if the employee lost their job “through no fault of their own”, they are eligible to collect unemployment. In these cases, the burden of proof rests with the former employee. In order to collect, the former employee must prove that they quit with a good reason or for “good cause”. A good cause could be a substantial change in pay, unsafe or hostile working conditions, etc. Good cause may be established when work related conditions have substantially deteriorated or a situation exists that would force a reasonable person to leave his or her employment.

The employer should be able to present facts showing they attempted to resolve any such situation, i.e., provided alternatives that were available to the employee prior to the resignation. In this case, the state will ask for information from the employer; such as what the work-related problem was and did the employee pursue options such as a leave of absence, transfer or a shift change prior to leaving.

Scenario 2: In the case of termination for failure to meet behavior or performance standards, the burden will be on the employer to show proof that:
1. the employee knew the standards expected,
2. the employee had all the tools necessary to meet the standards, and
3. the employee was warned about the consequences for continued failure to meet them.

The key element in this scenario is the documentation of each step. Remember: “If it isn’t written down, it didn’t happen”.

The issue of a work-related problem must be resolved before you lose a valuable employee and before a, uh, not-so-valuable employee collects unemployment or worse: decides to sue for wrongful termination. As with so many HR issues, it looks easier in the movies.


Betsey Nash, SPHR
United Staffing Associates

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Article Tags: insurance, quitting, unemployment claims, unemployment insurance



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Book: Comeback Moms - Comeback Moms: How to Leave Work, Raise Children, and Restart your Career even If you Haven't Had a Job in Years Monica Samuels and J. C. Conklin 2006 Jacket: Millions of educated, professional women are quitting their jobs to stay home and raise their children. That would never be you, right? You worked hard for your degree and even harder to get to this point in your career. Quitting now, even for a few years, would kill your career, right? That's what Monica Samuels thought when she found out she was pregnant... Over 60 percent of professional women who leave work to raise children want to get back into the workforce someday. If you even think you might want to go back to work, be it in one year or twenty, you need to lay the groundwork now for a successful reentry or your options will be limited. 1. Quitting: When is the best time to cut the cord 2. Feathering the nest: How to financially prepare before you quit 3. Departure strategies: leaving the office 4. Money and Power: Constructing a new life on the home front 5. Backlash: handling family, friends and angry strangers 6. One foot in, one foot out: How can they miss you if you don't really go away? 7. Part time: It ain't perfect, but it's doable 8. Going back: the when and how of returning to work full time 9. Career counseling: When you need a change 10. Entrepreneurs: True Stories Resources Index
Re: 10 High-Paying Careers With No Future - [quote="Garret":27gmqpdz]Hi GT, Nice scary article but what about those countries where there is Unemployment, Crimes, Down sizing and Inflation? Hope you or someone will point out the factors and solutions for this.[/quote:27gmqpdz] This is a huge problem globally and in South Africa where I live I think the unemployment is sitting as high as 40% at the moment, although the government has promised more jobs. It is scary when one thinks about all the kids who are just graduating with good degrees and still unable to find employment. The world is changing and we all need to change with it. MichelleJ
Re: First roadblock or finding the right market... - I love it Tom... Quitting... tuck tail and run... bury your head in the sand... write a letter!!! I've been accused by my wife of being a "Serial Entrepreneur"... In other words someone that is not satisfied with just one successful business idea and I'm always looking for others. I think that describes most members to this forum! That being said, I'm always finding myself being challenged by new business ideas and then searching for whether they are viable. The most important aspect of deciding whether it is viable is not always the competition in the first analysis. For me, it's more important to research how many people are actually searching for what you're looking for and there are a number of sites out there that can show you search information for specific keywords. If there is a strong demand for your idea (Based on search volumes), then you look at who is actually servicing the market, how big they are and if they have a national or regional presence. (PM me and I'll pass along a great link to work from). Most importantly, your idea needs to offer something different to what the existing suppliers are offering and that uniqueness, combined with a large enough demand, will allow for some room in the market for you. The worst case scenario would be lots of competition and no demand for the product or service. You got everyone fighting over a select group of customers and the big boys will always win with there unlimited marketing cash... (Real life experience and loses to prove this!!!)...


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