State of New York

Supreme Court, Appellate Division

Third Judicial Department

Decided and Entered: September 25, 2014 518181 

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In the Matter of the Claim of

MARIE C. LAHENS,

Appellant.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

COMMISSIONER OF LABOR,

Respondent.

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Calendar Date: August 4, 2014

Before: Peters, P.J., Lahtinen, Rose, Egan Jr. and Devine, JJ.

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Eric B. Kaviar, New York City, for appellant.

Eric T. Schneiderman, Attorney General, New York City (Gary

Leibowitz of counsel), for respondent.

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Appeal from a decision of the Unemployment Insurance Appeal

Board, filed September 12, 2012, which ruled that claimant was

disqualified from receiving unemployment insurance benefits

because she voluntarily left her employment without good cause.

Claimant worked as a certified nurse's aide for the

employer, a nursing home facility. After having previously taken

a 31⁄2-month leave of absence due to an injury, claimant was

granted two weeks of leave in March 2009 to care for her husband,

who had end-stage renal disease. The letter granting claimant's

request for leave indicated that if a further extension of leave

was necessary, claimant would need to submit medical

documentation along with her request. The employer's vicepresident of human resources testified that the employer

permitted leaves of absence of up to two years and that if

claimant had requested an extension of her leave of absence, it

would have been granted. In addition, the employer offered
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claimant the opportunity to work part time on weekends. 

Nevertheless, claimant did not request a leave of absence;

rather, she resigned and relocated to Florida five months later

to join her husband, who had moved to Florida in 2008 with the

intention of retiring there and because the wait for a kidney

transplant was shorter in duration there. He received a kidney

transplant six months after claimant resigned. The Unemployment

Insurance Appeal Board ultimately determined that claimant had

voluntarily separated from her employment without good cause, and

she now appeals.

We affirm. "Relocating to retire with and care for one's

spouse does not constitute good cause for leaving employment

absent proof of a compelling medical necessity for the move"

(Matter of Bastien [Commissioner of Labor], 87 AD3d 784, 785

[2011] [citations omitted]; see Matter of Tetlow [Commissioner of

Labor], 47 AD3d 1042, 1042-1043 [2008]). Claimant provided no

medical documentation indicating that she had received medical

advice to join her husband in Florida (see Matter of Moshier

[Commissioner of Labor], 79 AD3d 1557, 1558 [2010]; Matter of

Tetlow [Commissioner of Labor], 47 AD3d at 1043), nor did she

explain the five-month delay in relocating to Florida after she

resigned. In any event, claimant's husband received a kidney

transplant six months after she resigned, and the employer

indicated both that it would have granted her an additional leave

of absence and that continuing work was available to her. Under

these circumstances, substantial evidence supports the Board's

determination that claimant voluntarily left her employment

without good cause.

Peters, P.J., Lahtinen, Rose, Egan Jr. and Devine, JJ.,

concur.
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ORDERED that the decision is affirmed, without costs.

ENTER:

Robert D. Mayberger

Clerk of the Court