I was denied unemployment in Florida for relocating due to domestic abuse. Help on writing a apeeal?

I am a victim of domestic violence and relocated to another state to stay safe; actually to save my own life. On many occassions I requested a conference with my supervisor, I was given times to arrive early, but each time, the meeting was postponed.
Please help...I need to know how to fight this in an appeal. Oh I forgot to mention, two women was murdered within a month since I left because of domestic violence.


Hi,

Unfortunately, Florida does not have a law or provision which creates an exception for your circumstances .. at least according to the USDOL (Table 5-2)

Florida requires that a voluntary quit be attributable to the employer. Just another example of how the unemployment system has not kept up with the realities of how life and work .. and who's working has changed in this country.

But given that the information regarding decisions isn't readily available .. especially in Florida, I went looking for something.

I found this publication from NELP

The publication above states that there are Florida decisions which make winning your appeal possible.

I think you should probably contact legal aid, but I do think the appeal will need to be focused on what those meetings you had planned with the employer were going to be about. It seems to me that there needs to be something that makes the employer responsible for the separation if they failed to address your concerns for your safety. In other words, you tried to maintain the job, but the employer made it impossible.


I also suspect that when a state doesn't have a specific law or provision which addresses domestic violence as an exception .. it would require you to expose the fact that you quit the job not because of the domestic violence, but because the employer failed to act in a reasonable way after you made the effort to retain the job by possibly making some acommodations to your situation .. to keep you safe and employed.

Does this entire thing strike anyone as being contrary to Florida's statute that allows benefits due to a worker's illness.

They give benefits if the work would be harmful to your health .. and the employer can't provide a less physical job .. so why on earth would they disallow benefits if a worker tells their employer they need some help to keep their job .. so they can avoid being killed or maimed? A woman can remove herself and her children from the home, but she's exposed at work .. where the abuser knows she can be found.

Sorry I can't be more helpful by providing a link to UI precedent decisions, but Florida doesn't have anything like that. You all might become informed and know when the AWI is ignoring precedents.

I also read that Florida refused 444 million dollars of stimulus money and instead opted to go broke in August of 2009 .. now they have to borrow the money from the feds. You can read the whole article here. http://www.dlcc.org/taxonomy/term/90

Wow!!