H-241                _______________________________________________

                                                     HOUSE BILL NO. 33

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              49th Legislature                              1985 Regular Session

By Representatives Wang, Patrick, Sayan, Basich and K. Wilson

Read first time 1/16/85 and referred to Committee on Commerce & Labor.

AN ACT Relating to voluntary disqualifications for unemployment compensation; and amending RCW 50.20.050.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

        Sec. 1.  Section 73, chapter 35, Laws of 1945 as last amended by section 6, chapter 18, Laws of 1982 1st ex. sess. and RCW 50.20.050 are each amended to read as follows:

          (1) An individual shall be disqualified from benefits beginning with the first day of the calendar week in which he or she has left work voluntarily without good cause and thereafter until he or she has obtained bona fide work and earned wages of not less than his or her suspended weekly benefit amount in each of five calendar weeks.

          The disqualification shall continue if the work obtained is a mere sham to qualify for benefits and is not bona fide work.  In determining whether work is of a bona fide nature, the commissioner shall consider factors including but not limited to the following:

          (a) The duration of the work;

          (b) The extent of direction and control by the employer over the work; and

          (c) The level of skill required for the work in light of the individual's training and experience.

          (2) An individual shall not be considered to have left work voluntarily without good cause when:

          (a) He or she has left work to accept a bona fide offer of bona fide work as described in subsection (1) of this section; or

          (b) The separation was because of the illness or disability of the claimant or the death, illness, or disability of a member of the claimant's immediate family if the claimant took all reasonable precautions, in accordance with any regulations that the commissioner may prescribe, to protect his or her employment status by having promptly notified the employer of the reason for the absence and by having promptly requested reemployment when again able to assume employment:  PROVIDED, That these precautions need not have been taken when they would have been a futile act, including those instances when the futility of the act was a result of a recognized labor/management dispatch system.

          (3) In determining under this section whether an individual has left work voluntarily without good cause, the commissioner shall only consider work-connected factors such as the degree of risk involved to the individual's health, safety, and morals, the individual's physical fitness for the work, the individual's ability to perform the work, and such other work connected factors as the commissioner may deem pertinent, including state and national emergencies.  Good cause shall not be established for voluntarily leaving work because of its distance from an individual's residence where the distance was known to the individual at the time he or she accepted the employment and where, in the judgment of the department, the distance is customarily traveled by workers in  the individual's job classification and labor market, nor because of any other significant work factor which was generally known and present at the time he or she accepted employment, unless the related circumstances have so changed as to amount to a substantial involuntary deterioration of the work factor or unless the commissioner determines that other related circumstances would work an unreasonable hardship on the individual were he or she required to continue in the employment.

          (4) Subsections (1) and (3) of this section shall not apply to an individual whose marital status or domestic responsibilities cause him or her to leave employment.  Such an individual shall not be eligible for unemployment insurance benefits until he or she has requalified, either by obtaining bona fide work and earning wages of not less than the suspended weekly benefit amount in each of five calendar weeks or by reporting in person to the department during ten different calendar weeks and certifying on each occasion that he or she is ready, able, and willing to immediately accept any suitable work which may be offered, is actively seeking work pursuant to customary trade practices, and is utilizing such employment counseling and placement services as are available through the department.

(5) An individual disqualified under subsection (1) or (4) of this section in a case in which he or she left work after receiving notice that employment would be terminated on a future date certain shall not be disqualified beyond the last day of the calendar week in which the termination was to take effect.

This subsection shall not apply if:

(a) The commissioner determines that the notice, under all the circumstances, would not justify a reasonable belief that employment was to be terminated; or

(b) The termination was for a disqualifying reason under RCW 50.20.060.