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Accepting Voluntary Separation Plan Not “Good Cause Attributable to the Work”

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he Appellate Division recently ruled that employees who accept a voluntary severance package cannot later claim they left their employment for good cause attributable to the work, for purposes of collecting unemployment benefits. The plaintiffs, former Verizon employees, were offered and accepted a voluntary, incentive-driven separation. The court rejected their subsequent claim that they took the package because they feared for their jobs, finding no support for the assertion that Verizon had “hinted” that the plaintiffs would otherwise be fired within 60 days.

Black-Melone v. Board of Review, No. A-0395-06T3 (App. Div., June 5, 2009) – The Appellate Division recently ruled that employees who accept a voluntary severance package cannot later claim they left their employment for good cause attributable to the work, for purposes of collecting unemployment benefits. The plaintiffs, former Verizon employees, were offered and accepted a voluntary, incentive-driven separation. The court rejected their subsequent claim that they took the package because they feared for their jobs, finding no support for the assertion that Verizon had “hinted” that the plaintiffs would otherwise be fired within 60 days.

Note: This article was published in the July 2009 issue of the New Jersey eAuthority.

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