Washington Administrative Code
Title 192 - Employment Security Department
UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE
Chapter 192-150 - Job separations
Section 192-150-055 - Leaving work because of illness or disability-General rules and definitions-RCW 50.20.050 (1)(b)(ii) and (2)(b)(ii)
Universal Citation: WA Admin Code 192-150-055
Current through Register Vol. 24-18, September 15, 2024
(1) For separations occurring before September 3, 2023:
(a)
General
rule. To establish good cause for leaving work voluntarily because of
your illness or disability or the illness, disability, or death of a member of
your immediate family, you must demonstrate that:
(i) You left work primarily because of such
illness, disability, or death; and
(ii) The illness, disability, or death made
it necessary for you to leave work; and
(iii) You first exhausted all reasonable
alternatives prior to leaving work, including:
(A) Notifying your employer of the reason(s)
for the absence as provided in WAC
192-150-060;
(B) Requesting changes in working conditions,
changes to your work schedule, or a leave of absence; and
(C) Asking to be reemployed when you are able
to return to work. (You are not required to request reemployment after the job
separation has occurred to establish good cause.)
(b) For claims with an effective
date of January 4, 2004, or later, you will not be deemed to have left work
with good cause unless, in addition to the requirements of (a)(i) through (iii)
of this subsection, you terminate your employment and are not entitled to be
reinstated in the same or similar position.
(c)
Exception. You may be
excused from failure to exhaust reasonable alternatives prior to leaving work
as required by (a)(iii) of this subsection if you can show that doing so would
have been a futile act.
(d)
Definitions. For purposes of this chapter:
(i) "Disability" means a sensory, mental, or
physical condition that:
(A) Is medically
recognizable or diagnosable;
(B)
Exists as a record or history; and
(C) Substantially limits the proper
performance of your job.
(ii) "Immediate family" means your spouse,
domestic partner, and the children (including unborn children), siblings,
stepchildren, foster children, or parents of either spouse or domestic partner,
whether living with you or not, and other relatives who temporarily or
permanently reside in your household.
(iii) "Necessary" means the conditions are of
such degree or severity in relation to your particular circumstances that they
would cause a reasonably prudent person acting under similar circumstances to
quit work.
(iv) "Illness" includes
a request from a medical professional, local health official, or the Secretary
of Health to be isolated or quarantined as a consequence of an infection from a
disease that is the subject of a public health emergency that is active on the
date of the request to enter isolation or quarantine, even if you or your
immediate family member have not been actually diagnosed with the disease that
is the subject of a public health emergency.
(2) For separations occurring on or after September 3, 2023:
(a)
General
rule. To establish good cause for leaving work voluntarily because of
your illness or disability or the illness, disability, or death of a family
member, you must demonstrate that:
(i) You
left work primarily because of such illness, disability, or death;
and
(ii) The illness, disability,
or death made it necessary for you to leave work; and
(iii) You first exhausted all reasonable
alternatives prior to leaving work, including:
(A) Notifying your employer of the reason(s)
for the absence as provided in WAC
192-150-060;
(B) Requesting changes in working conditions,
changes to your work schedule, or a leave of absence; and
(C) Asking to be reemployed when you are able
to return to work. (You are not required to request reemployment after the job
separation has occurred to establish good cause.)
(b) You will be deemed to not have
left work with good cause unless, in addition to the requirements of (a)(i)
through (iii) of this subsection, you terminate your employment and are not
entitled to be reinstated in the same or similar position.
(c)
Exception. You may be
excused from failure to exhaust reasonable alternatives prior to leaving work
as required by (a)(iii) of this subsection if you can show that doing so would
have been a futile act.
(d)
Definitions. For purposes of this chapter:
(i) "Disability" means a sensory, mental, or
physical condition that:
(A) Is medically
recognizable or diagnosable;
(B)
Exists as a record or history; and
(C) Substantially limits the proper
performance of your job.
(ii) "Family member" means your child,
grandchild, grandparent, parent, sibling, or spouse, and also includes any
individual who regularly resides in your home or with whom you are in a
relationship that creates an expectation that you care for the person, and that
individual depends on you for care. "Family member" includes any individual who
regularly resides in your home, except that it does not include an individual
who simply resides in your home with no expectation that you care for the
individual.
(iii) "Child" includes
a biological, adopted, or foster child, a stepchild, a child's spouse, or a
child to whom you stand in loco pa-rentis, are a legal guardian, or are a de
facto parent, regardless of age or dependency status of the child, and
including an unborn child.
(iv)
"Grandchild" means a child of your child.
(v) "Grandparent" means a parent of your
parent.
(vi) "Parent" means your or
your spouse's biological, adoptive, de facto, or foster parent, stepparent, or
legal guardian, or an individual who stood in loco parentis to you when you
were a child.
(vii) "Sibling" means
an individual with whom you share at least one parent.
(viii) "Spouse" means a husband or wife or a
state-registered domestic partner.
(ix) "De facto parent" means an adult who has
fully and completely undertaken a permanent, unequivocal, committed, and
responsible parental role in a child's life in which the natural or legal
parent consented to and fostered the parent-like relationship.
(x) "In loco parentis" means a situation in
which an individual acts in place of a parent, intentionally takes over
parental duties, and is responsible for exercising day-to-day care and control
fulfilling the child's physical and psychological needs.
(xi) "Necessary" means the conditions are of
such degree or severity in relation to your particular circumstances that they
would cause a reasonably prudent person acting under similar circumstances to
quit work.
(xii) "Illness" includes
a request from a medical professional, local health official, or the Secretary
of Health to be isolated or quarantined as a consequence of an infection from a
disease that is the subject of a public health emergency, even if you or your
family member have not been actually diagnosed with the disease that is the
subject of a public health emergency.
Statutory Authority: RCW 50.12.010, 50.12.040, and 34.05.120. 10-01-156, § 192-150-055, filed 12/22/09, effective 1/22/10. Statutory Authority: RCW 50.12.010, 50.12.040, 50.12.042. 05-01-076, § 192-150-055, filed 12/9/04, effective 1/9/05. Statutory Authority: RCW 50.12.010 and 50.12.040. 02-14-035, § 192-150-055, filed 6/25/02, effective 7/26/02.
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