R994-405-102. Good Cause

To establish good cause, a claimant must show that continuing the employment would have caused an adverse effect which the claimant could not control or prevent. The claimant must show that an immediate severance of the employment relationship was necessary. Good cause is also established if a claimant left work which is shown to have been illegal or to have been unsuitable new work.

(1) Adverse Effect on the Claimant.

(a) Hardship.

The separation must have been motivated by circumstances that made the continuance of the employment a hardship or matter of concern, sufficiently adverse to a reasonable person so as to outweigh the benefits of remaining employed. There must have been actual or potential physical, mental, economic, personal or professional harm caused or aggravated by the employment. The claimant's decision to quit must be measured against the actions of an average individual, not one who is unusually sensitive.

(b) Ability to Control or Prevent.

Even though there is evidence of an adverse effect on the claimant, good cause will not be found if the claimant:

(i) reasonably could have continued working while looking for other employment,

(ii) had reasonable alternatives that would have made it possible to preserve the job like using approved leave, transferring, or making adjustments to personal circumstances, or,

(iii) did not give the employer notice of the circumstances causing the hardship thereby depriving the employer of an opportunity to make changes that would eliminate the need to quit. An employee with grievances must have made a good faith effort to work out the differences with the employer before quitting unless those efforts would have been futile.

(2) Illegal.

Good cause is established if the claimant was required by the employer to violate state or federal law or if the claimant's legal rights were violated, provided the employer was aware of the violation and refused to comply with the law.

(3) Unsuitable New Work.

Good cause may also be established if a claimant left new work which, after a short trial period, was unsuitable consistent with the requirements of the suitable work test in Section R994-405-306. The fact the claimant accepted a job does not necessarily make the job suitable. The longer a job is held, the more it tends to negate the argument that the job was unsuitable. After a reasonable period of time a contention the quit was motivated by unsuitability of the job is generally no longer persuasive. The Department has an affirmative duty to determine whether the employment was suitable, even if the claimant does not raise suitability as an issue.