Plaintiff was a school teacher at the University Place School District. ?He quit to follow his wife, who received a Fulbright teaching grant, in Finland. ?He was denied unemployment benefits and appealed.
After the Department denied benefits, an administrative law? judge found? that? claimant?s wife had a four month teaching grant from February to May, 2011, and that claimant, after being denied a leave of absence, quit his teaching position ?on ?June ?15, ?2010.???? The ?Claimant appealed the ESD Commissioner, who adopted the findings of fact and concluded that to be eligible for unemployment benefits, Claimant would? ?have?? to? ?establish? ?good? ?cause?? for voluntarily quitting his job. “Good cause to quit is established when a claimant relocate[s] for the employment of his spouse outside the existing labor????? ?market????? ?area.”????? ?Citing????? ?RCW 50.20.050(2)(b)(iii).? ?RCW 50.20.050(2)(b)(iii) also requires that the Claimant remain employed as long as reasonable prior to the move. The commissioner determined that Plaintiff failed to establish? that ?the ?Fulbright ?grant ?was employment, and also that Campbell quit his job prematurely. On appeal, the Claimant argued that he quit at the end of the school year instead of February of the following year out of consideration for the employer and his students; he wanted to avoid quitting in the middle of the school year.???? The Court of Appeals was unconvinced.?? It ruled that ?under the statute’s plain language, ?reasonable? does not equate to considerate, understandable, commendable, or ethical . . . .?? ??The statute requires that the claimant ?remained employed as long as was reasonable prior to the move.?” ?RCW 50.20.050(2)(b)(iii)(B) (emphasis added). ?Campbell’s ?decision ?to ?quit ?at ?the? end ?of? the school year had no relation to the timing of the temporary relocation to Finland. Therefore, Campbell? ?failed? ?to? ?show? ?that? ?he?? remained employed as long as reasonable.?
Campbell v. State of? Washington Department of?Employment Security, — Wn. App. –, 297 P.3d 757 ?(Div. ?II ?3/26/2013) ?(Quinn-Brintnall, ?Van Deren, Worswick).