24.11.454A    LEAVING OR DISCHARGE FROM WORK

(1) "Valid notice" means a formal, unconditional, specific communication between an individual worker and an employer or authorized agent of an employer that provides notice of the date a worker intends to leave work voluntarily (quit) or notice of the date an employer intends to terminate a worker from employment.

(2) Separation from employment occurs on the last day worked by an employee.

(3) Following a worker's notice of intent to leave work, the department shall impute the reason for the separation in the following manner.

(a) If a worker's notice of intent to leave work is valid, the department shall consider the worker to have left work voluntarily as of the date identified by the valid notice.

(i) If the employer requires the worker to leave work prior to the worker's intended last day, the worker may qualify for benefits of limited duration, not to exceed four weeks.

(ii) The benefits of limited duration terminate on the date identified in the worker's valid notice, unless the worker shows good cause for leaving work, pursuant to 39-51-2302, MCA.

(iii) Benefits of limited duration occurring at the beginning of a claim will be charged against an employer's account if the employer is a base period employer.

(iv) Benefits of limited duration will not be granted if the employer ended the employment relationship prior to the worker's intended last day due to misconduct committed by the worker after notice was given.

(b) If a worker attempts to retract a valid notice of intent to leave work and the employer does not accept the retraction, the department shall consider the worker to have voluntarily left work.

(c) If a worker's notice of intent to leave work was not valid, the department shall consider the worker to have been discharged by the employer.

(4) Following an employer's notice of intent to terminate a worker, the department shall impute the reason for the separation in the following manner:

(a) when an employer's notice of termination is valid, the department shall consider the worker to have been discharged, regardless of whether the worker left work voluntarily prior to the intended date of termination;

(b) when an employer attempts to retract a valid notice of termination and the worker does not accept the retraction, the department shall consider the worker to have been discharged; or

(c) when an employer's notice of termination is not valid and the worker left solely in response to the invalid notice, the department shall consider the worker to have left work voluntarily.

(5) The department shall consider a worker to have constructively quit employment in the following circumstances:

(a) when an employer discharges a worker for an act or omission that made it impracticable for the employer to utilize the worker's services and the worker knew or should have known that the act or omission would jeopardize the worker's job and likely result in discharge; or

(b) when a worker fails to meet specified conditions of employment, which may include but are not limited to:

(i) failure to meet license or permit requirements for employment; or

(ii) failure to maintain insurability.

(6) When a worker agrees to accept employment of limited duration as specified by the employer or by a written employment contract, the department shall consider the worker to have been laid off due to a lack of work at the end of the duration agreed upon and the last day worked.

(7) When an employer agrees to employ a worker for a limited duration as specified by the worker or by a written employment contract, the department shall consider the worker to have voluntarily left work only when the worker has refused an offer by the employer to continue the same work beyond the limited duration. In the absence of a valid offer by the employer to continue the same work, the department shall consider the worker to have been laid off due to a lack of work on the last day worked.

 

History: 39-51-301, 39-51-302, MCA; IMP, 39-51-2302, 39-51-2303, MCA; NEW, 2000 MAR p. 3523, Eff. 12/31/00; AMD, 2006 MAR p. 916, Eff. 4/7/06; AMD, 2011 MAR p. 573, Eff. 5/29/11; AMD, 2013 MAR p. 413, Eff. 3/29/13; AMD, 2016 MAR p. 2058, Eff. 11/11/16.