Employment Insurance (EI)

Decision

[1] The appeal is dismissed. The result is that the Appellant does not qualify for benefits because she did not prove that she had just cause for choosing to leave her employment. These reasons explain why.

Overview

[2] The Appellant was employed until May 15, 2018 at which time she voluntarily left her employment. The Respondent determined that the Appellant chose to leave her employment without just cause and disqualified her from receiving benefits as of May 15, 2018. The Respondent upheld this decision upon reconsideration. The Appellant appeals the decision to the Tribunal.

Issues

[3] I have to decide

1. if the Respondent proved that the Appellant chose to leave her employment;
2. and if so, whether the Appellant proved that she had just cause for choosing to leave.

Analysis

[4] Employment insurance pays benefits to individuals involuntarily separated from employment, and are without work.^{Footnote 1} The Commission disqualifies claimants from receiving benefits if they are unable to show they had just cause for choosing to leave their employment.^{Footnote 2} In this appeal, the Appellant says she had just cause to leave her employment because the employer was giving her jobs that were different from what she could do. Additionally, the Appellant indicated that on her first day of work, she was told that she would be working from 8am to 5pm; however, the employer wanted her to work from 6am to 6pm. The Appellant said that she lives in Pickering; therefore, she had to leave her house at 4am. The Appellant insists that she spoke to her employer and they said they would get someone else. The Appellant added that the employer was always yelling and she could not take that. She admitted that she did not ask the employer to stop yelling.^{Footnote 3}

[6] The Respondent has to prove that the Appellant could have stayed in her job but chose to leave.^{Footnote 4} The Appellant did not dispute that she chose to leave her employment. I therefore find that the Appellant made the choice to leave her employment.

Did the Appellant prove that he had just cause for choosing to leave his employment?

[7] Having found that the Appellant chose to leave her employment, I have to decide if she has proven that she had just cause for choosing to leave.

[8] The Employment Insurance Act (the Act) lists circumstances that I have to consider when assessing if the Appellant has proven just cause for leaving her employment; but I am not limited to considering only those listed circumstances. What the Appellant has to prove is that all of her circumstances, whether listed or not, show it is more probable than not that she had had no reasonable alternative to leaving her employment.^{Footnote 5}

[9] The Appellant provided that she worked for her employer for a total of 90 hours to earn money and pay her bills while looking for other work and waiting for another assignment from an employment agency. She stated that, in the past, she always completed her application for benefits whenever she finished work and her application was always approved. She added that she only worked for three weeks at this job; she left because she could not handle the job, working from 6am to 6pm, and because the owner was yelling at her. In addition, she found the location was too far from her place of residence.^{Footnote 6}

[10] The Respondent provided that the Appellant did not have just cause for leaving her employment on May 15, 2018 because she failed to exhaust all reasonable alternatives prior to leaving. Considering all of the evidence, reasonable alternatives to leaving would have been to speak with her employer and try to remedy the situation, to seek other employment options and secure another employment better suited to her needs, and/or to take a medical leave. Consequently, the Appellant failed to prove that she left her employment with just cause within the meaning of the Act.

[11] The Appellant also indicated that she found the location was too far from her place of residence. I agree with the Respondent that Google maps outlines that this commute is typically from 25-30 minutes each way. I find that this commute is not unreasonable for the Appellant to travel to get to work. Before leaving her employment, the Appellant could have travelled the distance to and from work until she found new employment.

[12] After considering the evidence submitted by both parties, I accept and assign more weight to the submissions of the Respondent. I find that the Appellant did not show just cause when she left her employment. The reason is that the Appellant had reasonable alternatives. Reasonable alternatives to leaving would have been to speak with her employer and try to remedy the situation, to seek other employment options and secure another employment better suited to her needs, and/or to take a medical leave. The Appellant made the personal choice to leave her employment.

[13] For reasons I have explained above the Appellant did not prove that she qualified to receive benefits.

Conclusion

[14] The appeal is dismissed. The Appellant is disqualified from receiving benefits as of May 15 2018.