Court Opinion

ID: 9651609
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 16:28:54.911853+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:12:36.712841
License: Public Domain

Dissenting Opinion by
Senior Judge Kalish:
I respectfully dissent.
Petitioner testified that she was unable to sleep, had stomach problems and took medication for anxiety. She consulted a psychiatrist who told her that the circumstances surrounding her work were too stressful and that she should not continue to work in such a stressful environment. N.T. at 10-11. The employer presented no evidence to establish that the work did not adversely affect the petitioner’s health, or that she had no other alternative but to terminate her employment.
Here, the Board erred in focusing only on petitioner’s health, specifically, that petitioner’s health was not severe enough to compel her to quit, and that it was not communicated to her employer. However, there is no requirement that petitioner’s health must be affected in order to be a compelling and necessitous cause. “ ‘Good cause’ for voluntarily leaving one’s employment (i.e. that cause which is necessitous and compelling) results from circumstances which produce pressure to terminate employment that is both real and substantial, and which would compel a reasonable person under the circumstances to act in the same manner.” Taylor v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 474 Pa. 351, 359, 378 A.2d 829, 832-33 (1977).
Since I feel that the Board’s adjudication contained an error of law by using an improper standard, I would vacate and remand.