Case Name: In the Matter of the Claim of Joseph P. Vitale, Appellant. Louis L. Levine, as Industrial Commissioner, Respondent
Court: New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1975-11-26
Citations: 50 A.D.2d 703
Docket Number: 
Parties: In the Matter of the Claim of Joseph P. Vitale, Appellant. Louis L. Levine, as Industrial Commissioner, Respondent.
Judges: 
Reporter: Appellate Division Reports
Volume: 50
Pages: 703–704

Head Matter:
In the Matter of the Claim of Joseph P. Vitale, Appellant. Louis L. Levine, as Industrial Commissioner, Respondent.

Opinion:
— Appeal from a decision of the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board, filed May 28, 1975, which affirmed the decision of the referee sustaining the initial determination of the Industrial Commissioner disqualifying claimant from receiving benefits effective July 29, 1974 because he voluntarily left his employment without good cause. Claimant retired from his position as a court clerk for the' Civil Court of the City of New York. Although the last day he actually worked was July 28, 1974, he remained on the payroll through December 2, 1974 to account for terminal and other accrued leaves and it was on that date that his retirement became effective. In the interim claimant discovered that he would not begin to receive his pension benefits until he attained the age of 55 and sought to be reinstated to his former position. He was unsuccessful in this endeavor and applied for unemployment insurance benefits. At the hearing he forthrightly admitted that he intended to remain in the labor market while receiving his pension and would not have retired when he did but for his mistaken belief that those benefits would be receivable immediately upon termination of his leave payments. Under these circumstances, there was substantial evidence for the board to find and conclude that claimant left his employment voluntarily without good cause. Claimant's early retirement was the product of his own choice in the absence of coercion to do so. He is not entitled to unemployment insurance benefits as a device to rectify his own miscalculation and tide him over until his pension benefits commence (cf. Matter of Fisher [Levine], 36 NY2d 146; Matter of Lynch [Catherwood] 32 AD2d 704). Decision affirmed, without costs. Greenblott, J. P., Sweeney, Kane, Main and Reynolds, JJ., concur. .