California Code of Regulations › Title 22 - Social Security › Division 1 - Employment Development Department › Subdivision 1 - Director of Employment Development › Division 1 - Unemployment and Disability Compensation › Part 1 - Unemployment Compensation › Chapter 5 - UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION BENEFITS › Article 1 - ELIGIBILITY AND DISQUALIFICATIONS › Section 1256-12 - Voluntary Leaving -Good Cause -Domestic Circumstances Involving Marriage

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 28, July 12, 2024
(a) Scope. This
						  section relates to whether good cause exists for leaving the most recent work
						  when an individual leaves work due to compelling obligations relating to his or
						  her prospective or existing marital status. Sections
						  1256-1,
						  1256-2,
						  1256-3, and
						  1256-9 of these regulations set
						  forth general principles also applicable under this section.
(b) Good Cause. A claimant leaves the most
						  recent work with good cause if the claimant has taken reasonable steps to
						  preserve the employment relationship and the claimant left work due to
						  circumstances relating to the claimant's prospective or existing marital status
						  of such a compelling nature as to require the claimant's presence, including
						  any of the following:
(1) The claimant's
						  prospective marriage is imminent and involves a relocation to another area
						  because the claimant's future spouse has established or intends to establish
						  his or her home there, and it is impossible or impractical for the claimant to
						  commute to work from the other area.
(2) The claimant is required to leave his or
						  her work to accompany his or her spouse to, or join his or her spouse at,
						  another location because it is impossible or impractical for the claimant to
						  commute to his or her work from the new location, due to any of the following:
(A) The desire of the claimant and his or her
						  spouse to accomplish a marital reconciliation.
(B) The claimant's spouse is seriously ill
						  and a change of residence is necessary for his or her care or welfare (see
						  Section 1256-10 of these
						  regulations).
(C) The need to
						  preserve family unity (see Section
						  1256-10 of these regulations).
COMMENTS. This section considers compelling
							 circumstances relating to a claimant's prospective or existing marital status
							 where difficulties of commuting exist because the claimant's spouse or
							 prospective spouse is located in an area substantially removed from the
							 locality where the claimant was employed. Subdivision (b) refers to various
							 situations in which good cause for leaving work exists. The section reflects
							 this state's policy in favor of the establishment and maintenance of the
							 marital relationship. However, leaving work solely to go on a honeymoon is a
							 leaving without good cause.
Regarding the requirement of imminent marriage, there
							 may be additional considerations depending on the facts. If a claimant stops
							 working substantially prior to the marriage, good cause will depend on the
							 nature and extent of the advance preparations such as packing, moving, and
							 transportation necessary, and whether such preparations could have been made
							 without the claimant's leaving work. If the marriage is delayed, good cause is
							 not negated if at the time the claimant stopped working a marriage was
							 imminent, the claimant could not have foreseen a delay, and the delay was
							 beyond the control of the claimant.
Under the second provision of subdivision (b)(1),
							 relocation must be necessary because the claimant's future spouse either could
							 not or would not forego his or her established or intended place of residence.
							 The future spouse's position on residential location is not material since the
							 issue is what reasonable alternatives were available to the claimant. In
							 assessing the impossibility or impracticality of the commute due to relocation,
							 Section 1256-8 of these regulations is
							 applicable.
Subdivision (b)(2) of this section concerns itself
							 with problems of commuting relating to the claimant's existing marital status.
							 The first provision is that a person who leaves his or her work to accomplish a
							 marital reconciliation leaves with good cause. The reason is the state's policy
							 to encourage parties to a marriage to live together and to prevent separation.
							 As a matter of good faith, the claimant and the spouse must intend to reunite
							 and conduct their affairs in such a manner as to reflect that intent. Further,
							 the fact that the claimant and his or her spouse are legally separated or
							 within the interlocutory stage of dissolution proceedings is immaterial since
							 neither situation is a final severance of the marital relationship. Hence,
							 reconciliation is still a possible
							 alternative.