by Chris
(Unemployment Tips)
If quitting for health reason can be good cause (and it can if you only read what’s on the surface) why do so many who quit for health reason find themselves ineligble to receive unemployment benefits after they quit their job?
First, let me try to distinguish the difference between ineligible for the time being and an outright denial of unemployment benefits.
The conditions of eligibility to receive benefits are basic once you get past the monetary qualifying stage and the non-monetary determination which judges the merits or the cause for an employment relationship ending.
You must be able and available to accept suitable work at any given moment you are collecting benefits.
And you must be looking for suitable employment while collecting per whatever your state says is an adequate job search.
However, as explained here, one of the basic premises of unemployment law for quitting with good cause in many states is that the leaving of work must be for a reason proven to be attributable to the employment, so some states have created explicit exceptions to the basic rule in a provision of the statutes regarding disqualification.
So, even when you do things prior to the end of termination the right way (I’ll get to FMLA and asking for medical leave to attempt preservation of the employment later) if you are fully restricted from work due too your health, you’re not eligible to receive unemployment benefits .. until you can prove through a release provided by your doctor that you are now able and available for work.
This is called lifting the disqualification .. vs. having to serve and purge a DQ to requalify for benefits.
So, in short a determination of benefits might sound like you’ve been approved to receive weekly benefits under one section of the law, but also says you won’t be collecting anything until you satisfy the UI department you are in fact, able and available for suitable work .. and looking for it too.
Next time I think I will address how you, the one with a health problem doesn’t look out for what best for you in the future, but your employer’s staffing problems caused by your illness.