Employment Insurance (EI)

Decision

[1] The appeal is dismissed. The Claimant hasn’t shown just cause for leaving her job. She hasn’t shown that, considering all the circumstances, she had no reasonable alternative to leaving. This means she is disqualified from receiving Employment Insurance (EI) benefits.

Overview

[2] Since March 11, 2021, the Claimant worked in a café. On March 23, 2021, she handed in her notice to go work in a day care. She left her job on March 26, 2021, but she didn’t start her new job. She was told that the risk of COVID-19 transmission was possible, despite the measures taken in the day care.

[3] The Commission refused to pay the Claimant EI benefits because she had left her job without just cause. She had reasonable alternatives to leaving: She should have looked into it before leaving her job at the café. She also didn’t ask her former employer to take her back.

[4] The Claimant disagrees. She is entitled to receive benefits. She wasn’t told about the risk of COVID-19 transmission at her first interview for the day care position.

Issue

[5] Is the Claimant disqualified from receiving benefits because she voluntarily left her job without just cause?

[6] To answer this, I must first address the Claimant’s voluntary leaving. I then have to decide whether the Claimant had just cause for leaving.

Analysis

The parties agree that the Claimant voluntarily left

[7] I accept that the Claimant voluntarily left her job. The Claimant agrees that she quit on March 26. I see no evidence to contradict this.

The parties don’t agree that the Claimant had just cause

[8] The law says that you are disqualified from receiving benefits if you left your job voluntarily and you didn’t have just cause.^{Footnote 1} Having a good reason for leaving a job isn’t enough to prove just cause.

[9] The law says that you have just cause to leave if you had no reasonable alternative to quitting your job when you did. It says that you have to consider all the circumstances.^{Footnote 2}

[10] It is up to the Claimant to prove that she had just cause. She has to prove this on a balance of probabilities. This means that she has to show that it is more likely than not that her only reasonable option was to quit.^{Footnote 3}

[11] When I decide whether the Claimant had just cause, I have to look at all of the circumstances that existed when the Claimant quit. The law sets out some of the circumstances I have to look at.^{Footnote 4}

[12] After I decide which circumstances apply to the Claimant, she then has to show that she had no reasonable alternative to leaving at that time.^{Footnote 5}

The circumstances that existed when the Claimant quit

[13] I consider that the Claimant was working in a café. She applied for a job at a day care. She had always wanted to work in this area. It was meant to help her with her career.

[14] On March 22, 2021, she had an interview. According to the Claimant, the issue of pandemic safety measures didn’t really come up.

[15] On March 23, 2021, she handed in her notice at the café. She left her job on March 26 and was supposed to start her new job the next Monday. In the meantime, she looked online to find out what to do with the children and about the risks associated with COVID-19. She is overweight and asthmatic. She didn’t want to take any chances and get sick.

[16] She says that, during the interview, she wasn’t told about the risk of transmission. She turned down the position. On the Monday morning, she went to the day care, but she didn’t go to work. She feared for her health.

[17] She also didn’t contact her former employer because she was uncomfortable. So, she didn’t go back to work at the café.

[18] According to the Commission, the Claimant didn’t have reasonable assurance of another job, and she didn’t have just cause for voluntarily leaving her job. By leaving her job, she put herself in an unemployment situation. She should have looked into it before accepting the day care position.

[19] The Claimant says that she had just cause for voluntarily leaving her job because she had assurance of another job. She was very motivated to work in an environment with children.

[20] However, she asked about it after the interview with the employer. It explained to her that there was a risk. Because of her health problems, she decided not to go to work.

[21] I note that the Claimant says that, when she left her job, she had reasonable assurance of another job in the immediate future. This is a circumstance set out in the Act.^{Footnote 6}

[22] In the case of voluntarily leaving for another job, it is difficult—if not impossible—to support or find that a person who voluntarily leaves their job for another one necessarily does so because they had no reasonable alternative to leaving.^{Footnote 7} It is a personal choice, and there is no third-party intervention, like in the case of a health risk situation.

[23] In my view, the Claimant didn’t have assurance of a job in the immediate future when she left her job on March 26, 2021. She didn’t start her new job. By not showing up for her new job, she can’t claim that she had assurance of another job. And it wasn’t because of a third-party intervention that she didn’t start work. She chose not to work at the day care because of a potential health problem.

[24] I must now look at whether the reasons the Claimant gave justify her voluntary leaving.

[25] In my view, the Claimant can’t use her health problems to justify refusing to start her new job.

[26] The Claimant knows her health status and knew about the situation concerning the COVID-19 pandemic. She asked about the risk of transmission only after her interview with the day care owner. She had to know that being in contact with children involved risks. By March 2021, we knew about the means of transmission. The information was readily available. Before leaving her job for a day care position, she should have looked into the situation, knowing her personal condition.

[27] Additionally, when she was told about the health risks, she could have gone back to work at the café. She didn’t feel comfortable doing so. So, she put herself in a situation of unemployment.

[28] In this context, the Claimant hasn’t shown that she had just cause for leaving her job at the café or for turning down the day care position. It was up to the Claimant to make sure she was able to work when she decided to leave her job for another one.

[29] It wasn’t a third party that prevented the Claimant from starting her job, but the choice she made not to take health risks in a pandemic environment. Still, she should have looked into it before leaving her job at the café, especially since she knows her health is fragile because of her weight and asthma.

Conclusion

[30] I find that the Claimant is disqualified from receiving benefits. She hasn’t shown that she had just cause for voluntarily leaving her job.

[31] This means that the appeal is dismissed.