Kupiec v. Comm'r of Labor

• Citation: 193 A.D.3d 1217,147 N.Y.S.3d 163
• Decision Date: 08 April 2021
• Docket Number: 531351
• Parties: In the Matter of the Claim of Lori B. KUPIEC, Appellant. v. COMMISSIONER OF LABOR, Respondent.
• Court: New York Supreme Court Appellate Division

193 A.D.3d 1217
147 N.Y.S.3d 163

In the Matter of the Claim of Lori B. KUPIEC, Appellant.
v.
COMMISSIONER OF LABOR, Respondent.

531351

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department, New York.

Calendar Date: March 9, 2021
Decided and Entered: April 8, 2021

147 N.Y.S.3d 165

Bond, Schoeneck & King, PLLC, Rochester (Bethany A. Centrone of counsel), for appellant.

Letitia James, Attorney General, New York City (Linda D. Joseph of counsel), for respondent.

Before: Garry, P.J., Lynch, Clark, Pritzker and Colangelo, JJ.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

Lynch, J.

Appeal from a decision of the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board, filed November 4, 2019, which ruled that claimant was disqualified from receiving unemployment insurance benefits because she voluntarily left her employment without good cause.

Claimant, a bank manager, was on disability leave in January 2019 and, following the birth of her child, was on maternity leave until May 23, 2019. Claimant, whose spouse traveled for work, requested to return to work part time or on an alternative work schedule, reporting that she was having difficulty securing child care for her two children. The employer indicated that it could not accommodate that request based upon the need for her position to be full time, and claimant sent an email that she could only return part time. Claimant resigned the last day of her maternity leave citing her inability to find child-care arrangements that were affordable and acceptable to her. Claimant applied for unemployment insurance benefits, and the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board ultimately determined that claimant left her employment without good cause and that she was disqualified from receiving benefits. Claimant appeals.

"[W]hether a claimant has good cause to leave his or her employment so as to qualify for unemployment insurance benefits is a factual determination to be made by the Board, and its decision will not be disturbed when supported by substantial evidence" ( Matter of Thuy Pham [Sperber, Denenberg & Kahan, PC–Commissioner of Labor], 178 A.D.3d 1227, 1228, 115 N.Y.S.3d 164 [2019] [internal quotation marks and citations omitted]; see Labor Law §§ 593[1] ; 623; Matter of LaRocca [New York City Dept. of Transp. -Roberts], 59 N.Y.2d 683, 685, ...