Full title: Alice C. FREVE v. MAINE EMPLOYMENT SECURITY COMMISSION and Advance Heel
Court: Supreme Judicial Court of Maine
Date published: Jan 23, 1968
Facts
This case arising under the Employment Security Law comes before us on appeals from the judgment in the Superior Court by the Maine Employment Security Commission and also by Alice C. Freve, the claimant-employee. 26 M.R.S.A. § 1041 et seq.
The decisive issue is whether the claimant complied with provisions of 26 M.R.S.A. § 1193(1) (A), which states that:
“Leaving work shall not be considered voluntary without good cause when it is caused by the illness or disability of the claimant and the claimant took all reasonable precautions to protect his employment status by having promptly notified his employer as to the reason for his absence and by promptly requesting reemployment when he is again able to resume employment.”
The Commission in its appeal contends that the Superior Court “was in error when it concluded, as a matter of law, from the facts that the Commission was in error when it concluded that the claimant failed to protect her employment status by failing to request employment when she was again able to resume employment.” The claimant appealed on the ground that the Superior Court erred in finding that she had left her employment voluntarily without good cause attributable to such employment.
Issue
Decision
The burden on a claimant to specifically request employment from the employer under the statute may not be lightly cast aside. When, however, as here, the uselessness of a formal request is established beyond question, we hold that there is compliance by the claimant with relief from the consequences of a voluntary quit.
Given our denial of the Commission’s appeal, the claimant has no further interest in her appeal. It may be said that the finding of the Commission that the condition of the claimant was not “job connected” or, in other words, was not attributable to such employment, was properly sustained in the Superior Court.
The entry will be
Appeals denied.
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