Current through August 30, 2024
(a) A
disqualification under
AS
23.20.379(a) and (b) remains
in effect for six consecutive weeks or until terminated under the conditions of
AS
23.20.379(d), whichever is
less. The disqualification will be terminated immediately following the end of
the week in which a claimant has earned, for all employment during the
disqualification period, at least eight times his weekly benefit amount,
excluding any allowance for dependents. The termination of the disqualification
period will not restore benefits denied for weeks ending before the
termination. The termination does not restore a reduction in maximum potential
benefits made under
AS
23.20.379(c).
(b) The maximum potential benefits to which a
claimant disqualified under
AS
23.20.379(a) and (b) would
have been entitled will be reduced under
AS
23.20.379(c), even if no
continued claim has been filed for a week within the disqualification
period.
(c) To determine the
existence of good cause under
AS
23.20.379(a)(1) for
voluntarily leaving work determined to be suitable under
AS
23.20.385, the department will consider only
the following factors:
(1) leaving work due
to a disability or illness of the claimant that makes it impossible for the
claimant to perform the duties required by the work, if the claimant has no
other reasonable alternative but to leave work;
(2) leaving work to care for an immediate
family member who has a disability or illness;
(3) leaving work due to safety or other
working conditions or an employment agreement related directly to the work, if
the claimant has no other reasonable alternative but to leave work;
(4) leaving work to accompany or join a
spouse at a change of location, if commuting from the new location to the
claimant's work is impractical; for purposes of this paragraph, the change of
location must be as a result of the spouse's
(A) discharge from military service;
or
(B) employment;
(5) leaving unskilled work to
attend a vocational training or retraining course approved by the director
under AS
23.20.382, only if the individual enters the
course immediately upon separating from work;
(6) leaving work in order to protect the
claimant or the claimant's immediate family members from harassment or
violence;
(7) leaving work to
accept a bona fide offer of work that offers better wages, benefits, hours, or
other working conditions; if the new work does not materialize, the reason for
the work not materializing must not be due to the fault of the
worker;
(8) other factors listed in
AS
23.20.385(b).
(d) "Misconduct connected with the
insured worker's work" as used in
AS
23.20.379(a)(2) means
(1) a claimant's conduct on the job, if the
conduct shows a wilful and wanton disregard of the employer's interest, as a
claimant might show, for example, through gross or repeated negligence, wilful
violation of reasonable work rules, or deliberate violation or disregard of
standards of behavior that the employer has the right to expect of an employee;
wilful and wanton disregard of the employer's interest does not arise solely
from inefficiency, unsatisfactory performance as the result of inability or
incapacity, inadvertence, ordinary negligence in isolated instances, or good
faith errors in judgment or discretion; or
(2) a claimant's conduct off the job, if the
conduct
(A) shows a wilful and wanton
disregard of the employer's interest; and
(B) either
(i) has a direct and adverse impact on the
employer's interest; or
(ii) makes
the claimant unfit to perform an essential task of the job.
(e) A
discharge for an act that constitutes commission of a felony or theft will
result in a disqualification for benefits under
AS
23.20.379(e) if
(1) charges are filed against the claimant or
the employer has reported the act to the appropriate law enforcement
authority;
(2) the felony or theft
is "misconduct connected with the insured worker's work" under (d) of this
section; and
(3) a preponderance of
the evidence establishes that
(A) the
claimant committed the act; and
(B)
the act was not justified under
AS
11.81.300-11.81.450.
(f) An acquittal, plea to a lesser
charge, or dismissal of charges does not prevent a disqualification for
benefits under (e) of this section, if a preponderance of evidence supports
that disqualification.
(g) For
purposes of this section
(1) "felony" means
an act classified as a felony in AS 11;
(2) "theft" means an act described in
AS
11.46.100, if the value of the property or
service is $50 or more;
(3)
"disability or illness" means a disability or illness that necessitates care
for the disabled or ill person for a period of time longer than the employer is
willing to grant leave, paid or otherwise;
(4) "immediate family member" means a person
who is related to the claimant by blood, marriage, or adoption as a parent,
child, spouse, brother, sister, grandparent, or grandchild.
(h) A claimant's last work, for
the purposes of determining a claimant's last suitable work under
AS
23.20.379, will be determined under the
following standards:
(1) the last work is a
claimant's most recent permanent, temporary, full time, or part-time work, in
which the claimant performed services and received wages under a written, oral,
or implied contract of hire, preceding an initial claim for benefits;
(2) if a claimant separates from two or more
working relationships in a calendar week while filing continued claims, the
last work is the last working relationship held in that week;
(3) temporary on-call work is a claimant's
last work only if the on-call working relationship is terminated before the
initial claim for benefits;
(4) a
claimant's last work does not include
(A)
unpaid training periods;
(B) work
performed in a correctional facility by a prisoner;
(C) jury duty;
(D) inactive military service;
(E) self-employment; or
(F) short-term, casual, or temporary work
taken to avoid disqualification under
AS
23.20.379 for an earlier work
separation.
Authority:AS
23.20.045
AS 23.20.379
AS
23.20.385
