Do I qualify for unemployment in Washington State if I voluntarily quit my job to accept job offer in another country?

Further, due to economic downturn, the company in Italy was unable to pay me the salary outlined in the original offer. I had already quit my job, moved out of my apartment and then decided, due to the fact that the job in Italy wasn't going to pay me the same amount, that I should not accept the job in Italy.

I have a written letter from the company in Italy stating that they did in fact offer me the position and then had to rescind the financial offer...sucked for me.

Would I qualify? I read that I would qualify if I had a "bonafide job offer". What other information will they ask of me?






Hi,

First, to voluntarily quit one job to accept a new job is not going to be good cause in all states.

This is one of those things that usually require a provision which creates an exception to the normal "attributable to the work" requirement to sustain good cause.

Washington state does have a law which provides for good cause for this reason. I'm not certain of what criteria Washington State specifically considers.

But when a state does provide an exception to the rule a unilateral move will generally, not be enough. The new work must pay more or be in in a field of what suitable work is for a person. Such as when they happen to be one of the current "under-employed" .. you know, a Phd working at Best Buy because it's all they could find.

But according to the USDOL the provision won't work for you because the work you quit for must also be "covered employment" which means covered by unemployment insurance.

Unless that job in Italy was with an American employer who would be paying Washington or some other state unemployment tax on your salary .. you're out of luck.

Talk about something that sucks for you .. eh?