If you are considering quitting your job in order to provide care for a sick or ill family member, you may be wondering whether you will be eligible to collect unemployment benefits. Under certain circumstances, you may be eligible for UC benefits. However, it is often very difficult to obtain unemployment benefits when you quit your job.
In order to obtain unemployment benefits after quitting in Pennsylvania, a claimant needs to establish that (1) the claimant had necessitous and compelling reasons for quitting their job; and (2) all alternatives were exhausted prior to quitting. Quitting employment to care for a sick family member is often considered cause of a necessitous and compelling nature, but the critical part of the eligibility analysis will come when the Board of Review takes a look at whether or not all alternatives were exhausted prior to quitting.
Factors that the Board of Review will typically look at is what type of notice was provided to the employer, how often the topic was discussed with the employer, whether multiple managers or supervisors were contacted about the issue, whether the matter was discussed with Human Resources, whether the claimant requested FMLA, a temporary leave of absence or a reduced work schedule, the claimant’s spouse’s employment, whether any other family members or friends could have provided care, whether the claimant sought a hired caretaker, the proximity between the claimant and the family member, and the medical condition and type of care the family member required.
Benefits will only be granted to the claimant when there was truly nothing else that could have been done other than for the claimant to quit their employment in order to provide care for a sick or ill family member. If you have been denied benefits after quitting your job to care for a sick family member, please call me at (610) 417-6345 for a consultation.
