Unemployment Benefits for Voluntary Quit

One of the reasons the Employment Security Department (ESD) denies unemployment benefits is because the employee voluntarily quit without good cause.  As a general rule, unemployment benefits are not available to employees who voluntarily quit.  However, benefits are available when there was good cause for the voluntary quit.  There are a limited number of specific circumstances which ESD considers good cause for voluntarily quitting:

• Quitting to accept a bona fide offer of work in covered employment
• Quitting due to illness or disability of yourself or your immediate family under certain circumstances
• Quitting to relocate for the employment of a spouse or domestic partner that is outside of the existing labor market area, if you remained employed as long as was reasonable prior to the move
• Quitting to avoid domestic violence or stalking
• Quitting due to a reduction in usual compensation of 25% or more
• Quitting due to a reduction in usual hours of 25% or more
• Quitting due to a change in worksite that causes a commute greater than is customary for workers in your job classification and labor market
• Quitting due to a deterioration in worksite safety, when you reported the safety deterioration to the employer and the employer failed to correct it within a reasonable period of time
• Quitting due to illegal activities at the worksite, when you reported the illegal activities to the employer and the employer failed to end the illegal activities within a reasonable period of time
• Quitting due to a change in work that violates your religious convictions or sincere moral beliefs
• Quitting due to entrance into an apprenticeship program approved by the Washington state apprenticeship training council

RCW 50.20.050.

For more information about unemployment compensation or to discuss your particular situation, contact a Washington unemployment attorney today.  Please do not use the information contained in this blog post to decide whether to voluntarily quit your job; consult with an attorney about your specific situation first.