I quit for a better job but my health became the issue for a required license to do the job

by sonny miranda
(kingsland, ga)

As a truck driver I wanted to find a job where I can be home more with my new wife and family.

So I quit my job after finding the perfect job. With this new job I'll be working Monday thru friday and off on the weekends.

Unfortunately, things got bad after taking the D.O.T physical and I found out that I cannot drive because of high blood pressure.

With the lost of my health insurance benefits I can't afford to see a doctor or get the medication needed to lower my blood pressure. Can I collect unemployment benefit ?





Hi,

Seriously? You can't afford a visit to the doctor? Or, the medication?

I have high blood pressure. I even have a CDL .. why I have one of those is a long story, but what I do know is that I didn't have health insurance to cover the cost of the doctor visit or the medication,

I also know that it initially cost me $148 total to get it under control.

$58 dollars for the doctor's office visit to get a prescription (my doctor offers a discount for "self paying patients".)

$20 dollars for a year of Walgreens prescription discount plan.

$12 dollars for a 90 day supply of generic blood pressure medication.

And a second doctor visit to see if it was working for $58.

And it did not take, but a few days to get my blood pressure under control.

So, although this doesn't have anything to do with unemployment .. I don't see your financial hardship argument as a legitimate argument to not maintain a required license to work as a truck driver or collect unemployment.


But, I also understand you are a truck driver whose CDL is dependent on DOT regs.

I'd rather you had told me how the great new job dissipated into thin air after learning you had high blood pressure via a DOT physical.

I took a look at this DOLETA chartbook and in the footnotes for whether a worker's illness provides good cause to quit I found the following for Georgia.

GA – Job must have made the condition worse, and quitting must be advised by a doctor

GA and PA – claimant must notify employer and try to resolve issue before leaving; must inform employer of limitation before leaving

Whether you had good cause to quit your job to accept new work is interpreted, per the same chartbook, but without specific discussion.

And since I can't find a Georgia precedent decision resource which interprets different situations .. I'll just tell you what I know in general about quitting for new work.

Unilateral moves with regard to pay do not usually provide good cause for quitting.

If it was nothing less than a monetarily unilateral move, they certainly would then have to question your efforts to preserve your prior job with regard to the possibility of not being a OTR driver to connect the quit to the work .. even if you were being motivated by personal reasons .. they would have to be substantially compelling under the best set of statutes .. such as California's or Pennsylvania's or any other state that doesn't "require the reason to be attributable to the employment for good cause to exist.