Illinois Administrative Code › Title 56 - LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT › Part 2840 - CLAIMANT'S REASON FOR SEPARATION FROM WORK › Subpart B - VOLUNTARY LEAVING › Section 2840.101 - General Principles for Interpreting Section 601 of the Act [820 ILCS 405/601]

Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 28, July 12, 2024
a) For an
				individual's separation from work to be a voluntary leaving, the individual
				must have the option to remain employed by the employing unit. The separation
				is a discharge if the individual does not have the option to remain employed by
				the employing unit. Notwithstanding any other provision to the contrary, when
				obtaining or maintaining a "tool of the trade" necessary to perform a job,
				including but not limited to an occupational or other license required by
				federal or State law, is within an individual's control, a work separation that
				results from the individual's failure to obtain or maintain the tool of the
				trade is a voluntary leaving. An individual who is allowed to resign in lieu of
				discharge is considered as having been discharged.
1) Example: The individual is told that
				he/she will be discharged because of his/her poor attendance. However, in order
				to avoid having a discharge on his/her record, he/she is allowed to submit a
				resignation. This separation is not a voluntary leaving because the individual
				does not have the option to remain employed.
2) Example: The employing unit tells the
				individual that his/her position on the second shift has been eliminated.
				However, a position is available to the claimant on the first shift. The
				individual leaves rather than accept the first shift. This is a voluntary
				leaving.
3) Example: An individual
				is involved in an automobile accident, will be unable to work until released by
				his/her doctor and so advises his/her employer. The employing unit advises the
				individual that it cannot offer him/her a leave of absence and cannot keep
				his/her job open. This is a discharge because the employing unit has not given
				the individual the option of remaining employed.
4) Example: On Day 1, upon returning home
				from work, an individual is advised by his/her babysitter that, effective
				immediately, the sitter can no longer watch the individual's two pre-school
				children. Before work on Day 2, the individual telephones his/her employer to
				advise it of the situation and says he/she may need a few days to find a new
				sitter. The employer indicates that he/she must come to work that day or it
				will consider him/her as having resigned. On Day 3, he/she telephones the
				employer to advise that he/she has some leads for a new sitter, but will need a
				few more days. He/she is advised the employer has accepted his/her resignation.
				The individual was discharged. By presenting the individual with the choice
				between keeping his/her job and ensuring his/her two pre-school children were
				properly attended, the employer did not provide the individual with the
				opportunity to remain employed.
5)
				Example: Upon returning home from work, an individual is advised by his/her
				babysitter that, effective immediately, the sitter can no longer watch the
				individual's two pre-school children. Before work the next day, the individual
				telephones his/her employer to advise it of the situation. The employer
				acknowledges the importance of finding a sitter with whom the individual is
				comfortable, indicates the company will work around his/her absence while
				he/she looks for a sitter and instructs him/her to telephone it at the end of
				two weeks if he/she still has not found a sitter. Without contacting the
				employer in the interim, he/she reports to work at the employer's premises one
				month later. He/she is advised that the employer assumed he/she was no longer
				interested in the job and hired a replacement, and there is no work available
				to him/her. The individual left work voluntarily. He/she had the option to
				remain in contact with his/her employer and thereby preserve the possibility of
				returning to work but did not avail himself/herself of that option.
6) Example: An individual's job requires that
				he/she maintain a valid driver's license. After learning that the individual's
				driver's license has been suspended because of traffic violations, the
				employing unit instructs the individual that it no longer needs his/her
				services. The separation is considered a voluntary leave. The individual failed
				to maintain a tool of his/her trade, in this case, a valid driver's
				license.
7) Example: An individual
				is hired with the understanding that he/she must pass a State mandated
				licensing test within one year of his/her date of hire. The individual takes
				all of the training courses available to prepare for the test but still fails
				it on three occasions. The individual is told that his/her services are no
				longer needed as a result of his/her failure to obtain the required license by
				the one-year deadline. The resulting separation is not a voluntary leaving
				because the individual made a reasonable and substantial effort to obtain the
				required license. Obtaining the license was not within his/her control, and
				he/she did not have the option to remain employed by the employing
				unit.
8) Example: Pursuant to the
				terms of the collective bargaining agreement governing labor-management
				relations at the individual's workplace, the payment of union dues was a
				condition of employment. The individual refused to pay the dues, although
				he/she was financially able to do so. After the individual ignored warnings
				from the employer that he/she needed to pay the dues, the employer indicated
				that it was no longer able to employ him/her. The separation was a voluntary
				leave. The individual had the option of remaining employed by paying the dues,
				which he/she had the means to do, but failed to avail himself/herself of that
				option.
9) Example: Rumors of a
				shutdown circulate within a plant, although the employer has not given any
				indication that it intends to close the plant or lay off any employees. After
				hearing the rumors, a worker at the plant quits to begin looking for work
				elsewhere, indicating he/she is not going to wait around to find out what
				happens at the plant. The separation was a voluntary leave, since the worker
				had the option of remaining at the plant.
10) Example: An individual becomes
				temporarily bed ridden after contracting the flu on a Sunday. When he/she
				telephones the employer the following day (Monday) to indicate that he/she is
				unable to go to work, the employer indicates that if he/she is not at work by
				the next day (Tuesday), he/she will be considered as having resigned. The
				individual is unable to return to work on Tuesday. When he/she calls the
				employer on Tuesday to indicate he/she is still unable to go to work, the
				employer indicates that it has accepted the individual's resignation. The
				individual was discharged. He/she did not have the option of remaining employed
				by the employer.