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Unemployment Insurance claim rejected following resignation found not medically necessary

Unemployment Insurance claim rejected following resignation found not medically necessary
Matter of Cartarius-Macri v Commissioner of Labor, 39 A.D.3d 994

Laura M. Cartarius-Macri was employed as a senior keyboard specialist at a school from September 1998 until September 2005. In April and May 2005, she was on medical leave as a result of health issues related to anxiety and depression.

When Cartarius-Macri returned to work she said that she felt overwhelmed with her job responsibilities and subsequently resigned from her position.

Although Cartarius-Macri was initially found eligible to receive unemployment insurance benefits, her employer objected and the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board ultimately disqualified her from receiving benefits.

When the Board determined that Cartarius-Macri had voluntarily left her employment without good cause, she appealed the Board?s ruling.

The Appellate Division sustained the Board?s decision, stating that ?Inasmuch as [Cartarius-Macri?s] resignation was not based upon the advice of a physician . . . and was done before affording the employer the opportunity to remedy the situation . . . the Board could find that she left her employment for personal and noncompelling reasons.?

The decision states that although Cartarius-Macri testified that, at the time of her resignation, she experienced chest pain as well as anxiety attacks and that her doctor had previously advised her to leave her job, she had not initially report this to the Department of Labor. Further, the request for medical information questionnaire she provided in support of her claim for benefits after her resignation, which was signed by a physician?s assistant, did not establish that her resignation was medically necessary.

As to allowing her employer an opportunity to ?provide an accommodation,? Cartarius-Macri apparently submitted her resignation before the clerk hired by the school to assist her had started working.

These factors, said the Appellate Division, constituted substantial evidence supporting the Board?s finding that Cartarius-Macri left her employment for personal and noncompelling reasons.

Full post as published by New York Public Personnel Law on March 24, 2010 (boomark / email).