UI: Able & Available

Review examiner erred in ignoring 430 CMR 4.45(3) and concluding that the claimant, whose availability for work was medically restricted to part-time employment due to a high-risk pregnancy, was ineligible for benefits under § 24(b).  However, since the review examiner also found the claimant did…

Review examiner erred in ignoring 430 CMR 4.45(3) and concluding that the claimant, whose availability for work was medically restricted to part-time employment due to a high-risk pregnancy, was ineligible for benefits under § 24(b). However, since the review examiner also found the claimant did not…

Claimant, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, depression, and anxiety, left her shift as a produce clerk shortly after being reassigned to a new store, because she felt overwhelmed and was experiencing a panic attack.  Held the claimant’s illness prevented her from thinking clearly and having…

Claimant is disqualified during the period that she was medically unable to work. Thereafter, the evidence showed that she conducted an active work search.  Nothing prohibits submitting a majority of applications to a single or former employer.

The claimant was denied unemployment benefits on the grounds that he was restricting his availability and work search to part-time work for personal reasons. The Board reversed the denial because the claimant was held to be a caregiver of a family member, his son, with a disability, who is therefore…

A claimant who is required by his union to limit his work-search and availability to work offered through his union’s apprenticeship program has met the availability and work-search requirements of G.L. c. 151A, § 24(b), as long as he is a member in good standing of the union.

The Board concluded that the claimant, who was in attendance at a full-time educational program, met the requirement of availability. There is no record indicating the claimant’s incapable of working, and the claimant was actively seeking work that the claimant was reasonably fitted. The…

Case manager, who had used up her FMLA and was told to return to work, left her full-time job due to urgent, compelling, and necessitous domestic circumstances.  She could not leave her two young children in the care of her husband, who also required assistance and supervision with his significant…

A claimant who left subsidiary part-time base period employment without foreknowledge that she would subsequently be leaving her primary job is not subject to any disqualification or constructive deduction based upon her separation from this employer.

The claimant remained eligible for partial unemployment benefits because she continued to work her regular part-time hours and only declined extra per diem shifts when they conflicted with other suitable work.

The claimant was denied unemployment benefits during his leave of absence because he was not available for full-time work. The Board reversed the denial. The claimant could not work his regular full-time truck-driving shift due to child-care issues. The Board, however, held him remain able and…

The claimant was denied unemployment benefits based on her failure to meet the work-search requirements, and her lack of availability due to her attendance at a full-time school program. The Board reversed the determination. The Board held that attending school full-time does not result in a per se…

Home health aide remained eligible for partial unemployment benefits when she declined hours offered by an employer which conflicted with her hours from another, higher paying home health agency.  Partial unemployment benefits are not jeopardized when a claimant declines hours for more suitable…

After the claimant’s assignment with the employer’s client ended due to failure to notify the client of her absence, the employer wanted to reassign the claimant but had no other work available.  Such a separation from the employer is not disqualifying under G.L. c. 151A, § 25(e)(2).

A claimant who informed her employer that her work was overwhelming and who, several weeks later, had a mental breakdown separated involuntarily under G.L. c. 151A, § 25(e), where the employer had “weeks” to look into whether it could accommodate or change the claimant’s job duties.

A claimant whose schooling only takes up 10.5 hours per week and who is otherwise available for work, capable of working and actively seeking work, has met the requirements of G.L. c. 151A, § 24(b).

Where claimant resigned from her subsidiary job with the employer and had no knowledge that she would later be laid off by her primary employer, she was not disqualified nor subject to a constructive deduction.

A claimant who separated from her most recent employer due to childcare issues can restrict herself to part-time availability in the benefit year of her claim, pursuant to 430 CMR 4.45, so long as she does not remove herself from the labor force.

A claimant who separated from her prior position for reasons which were beyond her control, and which now restrict her from working full-time, may restrict her availability and capability to work in her benefit year without incurring a disqualification under G.L. c. 151A, § 24(b).

The full-time work offered by the employer is not suitable because it requires long periods of standing, which is detrimental to the claimant’s health given her chronic lower back pain. The claimant is in partial unemployment because she is working part-time, her earnings are less than her weekly…

The claimant was denied unemployment benefits for failing to meet the availability requirements. The Board reversed the denial. The claimant was attending school full-time. The Board held that although the claimant spend about 50 hours devoted to schooling per week, it was possible for her to work a…

A temporary employee who, prior to filing for benefits, communicates with the employer at the completion of his current assignment without specifically requesting reassignment, and who does not assert that he is unavailable for work, has met the requirements of G.L. c. 151A, § 25(e).

Whether a claimant separates from her job for urgent, compelling, and necessitous reasons is analyzed based on all of the facts and circumstances of the case.  The claimant’s medical issues, need to take care of her daughter, problems she had with her supervisor, and feeling that she had very little…

The claimant, who was diagnosed with multiple mental health disorders including borderline schizophrenia and borderline personality disorder, had urgent, compelling, and necessitous reasons to leave his position with the employer after 18 years, because he believed that he would be fired and…

A claimant who is self-employed for less than half the hours than customarily worked in the past may still be found to be actively seeking work, where that self-employment was a reasonable means to finding full-time employment.

Although the Claimant was not physically capable of, available for, and actively seeking work due to his illness, he is eligible for benefits for three of the weeks during which he was ill because the Claimant was not offered any suitable work during the period at issue.

Claimant deemed to be in unemployment for a week when the claimant's usual place of business was closed, employer offered work in New Hampshire where claimant did not have a license to operate, and where a MA snowstorm state of emergency prohibited travel on the roads from Massachusetts, and…

Medical restrictions to claimants’ availability for work do not necessarily preclude them from receiving benefits. A claimant who had been cleared for light duty by her physician was able, available, and actively seeking work as a matter of law.

Claimant has good cause to limit her availability to part-time employment because she is unable to afford daycare for her newborn and shares use of a vehicle with her husband.

Decision that claimant was able, available for, and actively seeking work after physician submitted follow-up letter demonstrating that health condition preventing work as trash pick-up driver does not prevent claimant from other work as truck driver.

Although the claimant was in Hawaii for three weeks she was nonetheless able, available, and actively seeking work because she conducted a job search, applied for jobs, attended a work-related seminar, and had a flexible return ticket so she could return to Massachusetts on short notice if…

Although the claimant was placed under a weight-lifting restriction by her physician, she was nonetheless capable of, available for, and actively seeking work for which she was reasonably fitted.

In a case where the claimant had taken a leave of absence rather than quit his job which had little to no work available, and was subsequently laid off from a job where he had found more suitable, full time work, the Board of Review found that the claimant had constructively resigned from his first…

The Board of Review has held that a claimant was in “total unemployment” under G.L. c. 151A, § 1(4) when he was between tours of duty on the employer’s merchant marine vessel.

Claimant's inability to perform job duties of prior employment because of injury did not prevent claimant from being available for other forms of work.  Claimant's departure from work under circumstances of injury was an involuntary separation, not an involuntary leave of absence (which…

Claimant who was homeless and without telephone presented sufficient evidence that she was actively searching for work.Advocate: Monica Halas, GBLS. 

Finding that the claimant, who was a non-citizen, was authorized to work during his alternate base period as a permanent resident under color of law (PRUCOL) and was able and available for work during the benefit year because the USCIS bestowed work authorization retroactively by granting…

Claimant was able and available for work, even though she restricted her work search to certain part-time hours due to her child’s disability.

Part-time cashier took medical leave because she could not stay on her feet during pregnancy. She looked for other work through a temp agency but found nothing suitable, and ceased looking for work shortly before the birth of her child. R/E disqualified her for the period she was looking for…

On-call employees can collect if no work was offered during the relevant period, but if any work is offered they are not in partial unemployment. Advocate: Jen Tschirch, GBLS

Claimant was found ineligible for UI because of pregancy-related medical problems which limited her availability to part-time work. R/E denied benefits because she did not have a history of part-time work as required by 430 CMR 4.45(1). BOR reverses denial, finding that her medical problems are a…

Claimant with limited literacy gave incomplete list of his work search activities and was therefore disqualified. After holding its own hearing, BOR finds that claimant did engage in "systematic and sustained effort to obtain work." BR-50694