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 1256-18 - Voluntary Leaving -Good Cause -Personal Affairs

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 28, July 12, 2024
(a) Scope. This section relates to voluntary
						  leaving of the most recent work due to personal affairs concerning financial
						  difficulties, legal and business affairs, rest or vacation, return to a former
						  home, or self-advancement or self-employment. An exhaustive listing of all
						  types of personal affairs which may cause an individual to leave work is not
						  feasible. However, the principles stated apply to the conduct of personal
						  affairs generally. In addition, other regulations also deal with personal
						  affairs, such as Sections
						  1256-9 to
						  1256-12 of these regulations on
						  leaving due to domestic circumstances. Sections
						  1256-1,
						  1256-2, and
						  1256-3 of these regulations set
						  forth general principles also applicable under this section.
(b) Financial Difficulties. An individual who
						  leaves work due to financial difficulties has left work without good cause
						  unless there are compelling circumstances to establish that a reasonable person
						  genuinely desirous of retaining employment would have left the work.
EXAMPLE 1. A left the work because A was being
							 harassed by creditors and did not wish to work and turn over A's pay to the
							 creditors.
A's leaving of work due to financial difficulties was
							 without good cause since avoiding payment of debts is not a compelling
							 circumstance.
EXAMPLE 2. B had an infectious skin disease and
							 needed funds for medical care. B could obtain money due B under the employer's
							 annuity plan only be resigning. B resigned and received the money for medical
							 care.
B's leaving was with good cause due to the compelling
							 need for funds for medical treatment B could obtain in no other
							 way.
(c) Legal and Business
						  Affairs. An individual who leaves work to attend to legal or business affairs
						  has left work without good cause unless there are compelling circumstances
						  requiring the individual's personal attention and the affairs cannot be handled
						  by obtaining a leave of absence.
EXAMPLE 3. C, a cook, was scheduled to work on a ship
							 for an extended trip. While on shore leave prior to the trip, C was served with
							 subpoena in a divorce proceeding. The proceeding could not be continued. It
							 would substantially affect C's property rights. C informed the ship's captain,
							 and left the ship to appear in the proceeding.
C's leaving was with good cause since C's appearance
							 was necessary for protection against substantial threat to C's property rights,
							 and C could appear only if C left the work. Neither the court proceeding nor
							 the ship's sailing could be delayed.
(d) Rest or Vacation. An individual who
						  leaves work due to a desire to rest or take a vacation has left work without
						  good cause unless the leaving is reasonably necessary for the protection of the
						  individual's health and a leave of absence or transfer to other work was
						  requested but denied or would not have been granted by the employer. (For
						  provisions as to leaving due to health or physical condition, see Section
						  1256-15 of these
						  regulations.)
(e) Return to Former
						  Home. An individual who leaves work due to a desire to return to a former home
						  has left work without good cause unless there are compelling circumstances to
						  establish that a reasonable person genuinely desirous of retaining employment
						  would have left the work.
EXAMPLE 4. D's wife desired to leave California and
							 return to her former home in Pennsylvania. She told D that she would go and
							 take the children whether D came or not. D objected but chose to give up his
							 California job and return with his family to the former family home in
							 Pennsylvania.
D's leaving was with good cause under compelling
							 circumstances to preserve family unity and his marriage.
(f) Self-advancement or Self-employment. An
						  individual who leaves work to look for other work and has no definite offer of
						  or prospects of other work has left work without good cause unless the
						  individual leaves part-time work which makes it impossible to look for
						  full-time work so that the individual can look for full-time work under
						  circumstances where reasonable prospects of other work exist. An individual who
						  leaves work to enter self-employment ordinarily has left work without good
						  cause but leaves work with good cause if the leaving is from temporary work or
						  short-term work to end in the near future and the self-employment provides
						  reasonable assurance that a livelihood will be obtained for a reasonable period
						  of time. (For provisions as to an individual who leaves work and has prospects
						  of other work, see Section
						  1256-19 of these regulations.)
EXAMPLE 5. E who was an employee in a boat works had
							 an opportunity to engage in self-employed crop dusting two weeks before E would
							 be laid off at the boat works. E left the boat works and engaged in the crop
							 dusting activity for several months.
E's leaving of short-term work was with good cause to
							 engage in promising self-employment when confronted with imminent loss of E's
							 job.
1. New
							 section filed 4-18-80; effective thirtieth day thereafter (Register 80, No.
							 16).
Note: Authority cited: Sections
								305
								and
								306,
								Unemployment Insurance Code. Reference: Section
								1256,
								Unemployment Insurance Code.