Can You Quit And Collect Unemployment -
The Requirement You Can't Afford To Ignore

However, that is the basic problem because good cause to quit is not just in the telling of your story about the wretched way you were treated as an employee to do the trick of getting unemployment benefits when you quit.

Good Reasons To Get Unemployment Benefits Require Supporting Proof

But, as empathetic as I am on a personal level about intolerable crap at work, my feelings and yours have to play second fiddle to the legal burden if you're attaching the need for unemployment to that three word question .. can you quit?

When I ask questions they're meant to drag out where the proof might be. I make suggestions about how and what you might want to document.

All because I know you have to fulfill the elements of what constitutes good cause to quit .. as far as the unemployment department is ALWAYS concerned.

The following is my non-lawyer (therefore informational only) attempt to generally define the elements I believe are important to wrap your head around for the legal burden of proof when a person quits a job.

If you ask Can you quit .. it suggest you haven't yet quit .. and that's a good thing because it's best to know this before you quit.

So, I can't ignore telling you that I believe having enough proof depends on the attitude you have as an employee .. because it's while an employment relationship is still active .. that good cause is created through relevant documenting of facts.

Think about it this way .. if the above weren't true .. do you think employers would spend the time energy and money on employee handbooks, performance evaluations, and the dreaded written warning forms .. not to mention an unemployment claims service provider?

Employers just first and formost protect their own interests not yours. They do this to comply with what they may be called upon to prove which equates to reducing the liability of employees on all sorts of issues associated with employee rights.

And yes, I see the need for this. It keeps a workplace more productive when expectations are spelled out. But, is it possible that these strategies can also be abused or ignored by people acting as authoritative figures for a business?

You better believe it.

Rules aren't the problem .. people are.

If you are an employee that is contrite, conciliatory or intimidated into doing nothing to make your work circumstance better, you're not alone. It's a story I hear all the time about how financial dependence on the paycheck was the reason they did nothing.

Okay .. so it's a choice .. go down with nothing because you were to scared to make an effort to at least attempt to preserve your job ..

When you make the efforts it could very well fix the problem .. if not .. you have documentation of your efforts.

When facing off with an employer about any legitimate workplace issue you lose ground if you do not stand your ground.

I'm not calling for unprofessional or emotional outbursts .. That would be grounds for termination if you read that employee handbook.

However, I do believe that knowing which battles to choose to stand your ground on, requires you to become aware of other labor laws affecting your employee rights .. and what you don't have the right to expect from an employer.

Remember this because this is relevant to the booby prize of getting unemployment benefits should thing go south in a heartbeat.

The Elements Of The Can You Quit Burden

In truth, there are very limited legitimate reasons to receive benefits for a voluntary quit.

The very word voluntary is misleading because you basically have to prove your quit was involuntary.

Provisional allowance for quitting due to personal reasons, such as having to move, or other filial (family) type situations, such as having to care for someone that is ill, require you to make plausible efforts to preserve the employment and prove you did in fact make these efforts so it can be corroborated you exhausted all reasonable alternatives to quitting.

Unemployment appeals by employers are frequent when someone quits and get benefits. It's an odds game as far as I can tell.

Even if I told one they would probably lose, both the employer an myself knew that unemployment claimants often failed to bring their best game (evidence to prove the efforts) to sustain the burden .. when they showed up for the hearing.

Always attend hearings prepared .. if you don't, chances are you'll have a great big OOPS looming in your future via an overpayment notice and it all comes back to the very first hearing .. as that is what becomes the record.

So, here are the elements .. you need to understand before you ask that question .. Can you quit and get unemployment benefits?

• reasonable person standard These 39 states include provisions (exceptions to the rules) in statutes for when the reason to quit was for personal circumstances.



• However, the part that throws everyone is that any reason that is deemed good cause requires you to prove the efforts you made to exhaust all reasonable alternative before you quit. This is true for those other 11 states too.

Can you quit? Can you prove good cause with documentation, other types of evidence, witnesses, or testimony alone?

Would another reasonable person dealing with a similar situation quit at the point you did?

Will you be able to present a cohesive argument at an unemployment appeal hearing which would include cross examining employer witnesses and even your own witnesses?

Do you know what to focus on as well as what not to say?

Yup, unemployment is legalistic .. however the myth about quitting and not being able to get unemployment is just a myth .. because even employees who could of had good cause, didn't pay attention to the rules the game is played by.

Can You Quit - Think paper trail


An appeal for unemployment benefits from an emotionally defensive position makes you vulnerable.

Telling me or the unemployment department what your employer did to make you quit .. isn't as important as telling what efforts supported by proof you made to preserve the employment.

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What Happens After You File An Unemployment Claim

Worried About Getting Fired?

Adjusting Your Attitude About Being An Employee?

Unemployment Questions and Answers

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