State of New York

Supreme Court, Appellate Division

Third Judicial Department

Decided and Entered: October 2, 2014 517925 

________________________________

In the Matter of the Claim of 

MICHELLE WEEDEN,

Appellant.

SC CHOICE MANAGEMENT CORP./SC

OF UPSTATE NY, Doing MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

Business as SMOKER'S CHOICE,

Respondent.

COMMISSIONER OF LABOR,

Respondent.

________________________________

Calendar Date: August 4, 2014

Before: Lahtinen, J.P., Stein, Egan Jr., Lynch and Clark, JJ.

__________

Michelle Weeden, Sidney Circle, appellant pro se.

Kalter, Kaplan, Zeiger & Forman, Woodbourne (Ivan Kalter of

counsel), for SC Choice Managment Corp./SC of Upstate NY,

respondent.

Eric T. Schneiderman, Attorney General, New York City

(Linda D. Joseph of counsel), for Commissioner of Labor,

respondent.

__________

Appeal from a decision of the Unemployment Insurance Appeal

Board, filed November 20, 2012, which, among other things, ruled

that claimant was disqualified from receiving emergency

unemployment compensation benefits because she voluntarily left

her employment without good cause.
-2- 517925 

Claimant had previously worked for the employer, and

returned to its employ in January 2011 as a district manager. 

Claimant resigned from that position in May 2011, and thereafter

received federally-funded emergency unemployment compensation

(hereinafter EUC) benefits (see Pub L 110-252, tit IV, § 4001 et

seq., 122 US Stat 2323; Matter of Strujan [Commissioner of

Labor], 111 AD3d 1239, 1239 [2013]). The Unemployment Insurance

Appeal Board ultimately disqualified claimant from receiving

benefits on the ground that she voluntarily left her employment

without good cause and charged her with a recoverable overpayment

of EUC benefits. Claimant now appeals.

We affirm. Substantial evidence supports the Board's

decision that claimant lacked good cause to leave her employment

(see Matter of Malone [Commissioner of Labor], 117 AD3d 1306,

1306 [2014]; Matter of Morales [Argosy Intl., Inc.–Commissioner

of Labor], 117 AD3d 1277, 1277 [2014]). The Board was free to,

and did, reject claimant's disputed testimony that she resigned

as a result of unaddressed harassment by her supervisor

(see Matter of Morales [Argosy Intl.,Inc.–Commissioner of Labor],

117 AD3d at 1277-1278). Claimant's other complaints amounted to

dissatisfaction with her pay and general working conditions,

which did not constitute good cause for her resignation (see

Matter of Tineo [Commissioner of Labor], 117 AD3d 1307, 1308

[2014]; Matter of Tanvir [New York City Health & Hosps.

Corp.–Commissioner of Labor], 87 AD3d 773, 774 [2011]). 

Further, "claimant was afforded a sufficient opportunity to

present proof in support of her claim" despite the refusal of the

Administrative Law Judge to consider testimony of dubious

relevance regarding her prior work with the employer (Matter of

Lieber [Ross], 46 NY2d 867, 868 [1979]; see Labor Law § 622 [2];

Matter of Valentin [American Museum of Natural History–Roberts],

103 AD2d 919, 919 [1984]).

Lahtinen, J.P., Stein, Egan Jr., Lynch and Clark, JJ.,

concur.
-3- 517925 

ORDERED that the decision is affirmed, without costs.

ENTER:

Robert D. Mayberger

Clerk of the Court