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 1256-19 - Voluntary Leaving -Good Cause -Prospects of Other Work

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 28, July 12, 2024
(a) Scope. This section relates to whether
						  good cause for leaving the most recent work exists when an individual leaves
						  work to seek other work or to accept other work. Sections
						  1256-1,
						  1256-2, and
						  1256-3 of these regulations set
						  forth general principles also applicable under this section.
(b) Seek Other Work. An individual who leaves
						  work to seek other work does not have good cause for leaving the work unless
						  the individual leaves part-time work to seek full-time work because the
						  part-time work prevents an effective search for full-time work.
(c) Accept Other Work. An individual who
						  leaves work to accept other work has good cause for leaving the work if there
						  was a definite assurance of employment in another substantially better job
						  which is at least as permanent as the job the individual leaves, or if other
						  circumstances establish that a reasonable person genuinely desirous of
						  retaining employment would have left work to accept the other work.
(1) Definite New Job. Since an individual is
						  expected to take every reasonable step to preserve continuous employment, good
						  cause for leaving a job for another job requires a definite assurance of a
						  starting date on the new job. A hope or speculative expectation of obtaining a
						  new job is not sufficient to establish good cause for leaving work. However,
						  good cause is not negated by leaving the prior job a few days early to move
						  closer to the new job or otherwise prepare for the new job, including a
						  reasonable rest period if the individual has not recently had a vacation.
EXAMPLE 1. A, a bookkeeper, left the job the day
							 before A's definite starting day on a new permanent job for which A had been
							 hired at a substantial pay increase. A was to replace a retiring employee on
							 the new job. On A's starting date for the new job, A was unable to begin work
							 because the employer notified A that the employee scheduled to retire had
							 delayed the retirement. The delay in retirement continued for several
							 weeks.
A's leaving was with good cause because A had a
							 definite promise and commitment to a new job with a definite starting day but
							 the job failed to materialize through the new employer's failure to provide the
							 new job.
EXAMPLE 2. B left the job on the day B was told by
							 B's new employer of a definite starting date a week later. The new job was a
							 permanent job closer to B's residence and was offered at a substantial pay
							 increase. B had not had a recent vacation. B used the one-week interval between
							 jobs to rest and take a vacation.
B's leaving was with good cause for a substantially
							 better job and the one-week vacation interval between jobs was reasonable and
							 did not negate good cause.
(2) Permanence of Jobs. Leaving permanent
						  full-time work to take temporary work generally is without good cause. However,
						  it may be with good cause if an individual has accumulated substantial rights
						  in customary seasonal work and leaves a nonseasonal permanent job to return
						  upon recall to the normal seasonal job to preserve the substantial rights
						  acquired. Leaving temporary work to accept permanent work is generally with
						  good cause even if the permanent work pays the same or even less than the
						  temporary work. Similarly, leaving part-time work to accept full-time permanent
						  employment is with good cause, but leaving full-time work to accept part-time
						  work is without good cause unless the individual has compelling reasons such as
						  protection of health for taking part-time work (see Section
						  1256-15 of these regulations for
						  provisions as to leaving due to health).
A claimant who leaves a job due to obtaining a new
							 job by false representations of his or her capability to do the work and is
							 discharged from the new job for lack of such capability has left the first job
							 without good cause.
(3)
						  Comparison of Jobs. In determining whether a new job is substantially better
						  than the prior job, all factors which influence an individual's decision to
						  leave the prior job for the new job are considered. These include relative pay,
						  opportunities for advancement, skills required, seniority rights, working
						  conditions, and the location and the permanency of the jobs.
Comparing pay and other factors of the old and new
							 jobs to determine if the new job is substantially better than the old job
							 cannot be reduced to definite standards or a prescribed formula. However, if
							 other factors are equal, a pay increase in the new job of more than 10% is
							 usually substantial. Pay includes the basic wage, shift differentials, board
							 and room furnished by the employer, and guaranteed overtime. Pay also includes
							 fringe benefits such as vacation pay and insurance if such fringe benefits are
							 currently available or set schedules and information to value the fringe
							 benefits for both jobs is available. Speculative fringe benefits whose receipt
							 is dependent on contingencies, such as pension, vacation and sick leave, are
							 given less weight in pay comparison to the extent that their values and the
							 probability of future realization are uncertain.
In some cases the retention of skills used on a new
							 job but not on the old job may justify leaving the old job even if the pay is
							 not substantially better on the new job. For example, a stenographer might
							 leave a clerk-typist job to take a stenographic job, with good cause, even if
							 no pay increase were involved, due to the importance of preserving stenographic
							 skills to maintain ability for employment at the higher skill.
EXAMPLE 3. C, an operating engineer, worked varying
							 shifts on any day of the workweek and the job was about 25 miles from C's home.
							 C left work for a permanent job of regular 8-hour shifts on only five days a
							 week, located four miles from C's home at a 5% pay increase.
C's leaving was with good cause since the new job was
							 substantially better because it was permanent regular shift work located closer
							 to C's home, although the pay was not substantially better.
EXAMPLE 4. D, a sales representative, left one job
							 for another at more than a 20% base pay increase and a car allowance more than
							 40% better than the old job. The new job offered no immediate pension plan
							 whereas the old job had a pension plan. Considering the pension plan and other
							 pay and fringe benefits the new job was substantially more valuable than the
							 old.
D's leaving was with good cause for a new job with
							 substantially better pay and fringe benefit rights. However, the pension
							 benefit was of little weight since the future realization of pension was
							 speculative and uncertain.
EXAMPLE 5. E was told by the employer that the
							 employer's operations were to be moved in the near future. The new location
							 would involve a trip from E's residence excessive in both cost and distance. E
							 sought work with another employer by whom E had previously been employed, and
							 obtained an offer of work. E left the work to take E's new job.
E's leaving was with good cause to take the new job
							 since E would have had compelling reasons to leave the old job when the
							 transfer to the new plant occurred, and loss of E's old job was
							 imminent.