Highly stressful job that I have been doing for a year and a half. I feel my initial work load has increased, and the companies financial difficulties are also making my job harder. Layoff’s have led to increased work load. Other than tasks issued via email, I no longer have clear understanding of job duties. My pay was cut by 10 percent and as a concession I now work 40 hours over 4 days instead of 50 over 5 days. Boss is a “tyrant,” but also the owner so there is no one to report him too. I can’t sleep at night, I hyperventilate with just the thought of going to work, I’m making mistakes and can’t focus on my tasks. My boss just yells at me about mistakes but doesn’t do anything to help. Its all taking a toll on my husband and 3 children.
1. I have the job duties list from the person I replaced and a current job duties list that is substantially different.
2. I have a “in-house” CFO/Consultant that would testify on my behalf – but would prefer to not have employer know.
3. I have dates and notes of instances that I have expressed concern over work load, times he flipped out on me.
Doctor has subscribed medication to help me deal with panic attacks and anxiety. Would I be eligible for UI if I quit under duress? Would I collect if I notified my employer of my anxiety and gave him notice that I was quitting?
I will also follow-up with a consulation once I have all my back up.
Thank you
Hi,
Sounds awful, but your title or question and then your description of the job sound like two different things to me.
Would you be quitting due to medically documented physical illness or one entirely, “attributable to the work” and be quitting due to an intolerable work environment which is having a negative impact on your health and despite your best efforts to resolve have fell on deaf employer ears.
Choosing the focus of a battle is half the battle. NC statutes.
I happen to know that NC statutes include this:
Where an individual is discharged or leaves work due solely to a disability incurred or other health condition, whether or not related to the work, he shall not be disqualified for benefits if the individual shows:
a. That, at the time of leaving, an adequate disability or health condition of the employee, of a minor child who is in the legally recognized custody of the individual, of an aged or disabled parent of the individual, or of a disabled member of the individual’s immediate family, either medically diagnosed or otherwise shown by competent evidence, existed to justify the leaving; and
b. That, at a reasonable time prior to leaving, the individual gave the employer notice of the disability or health condition.
Where an employee is notified by the employer that such employee will be separated from employment on some future date and the employee leaves work prior to this date because of the impending separation, the employee shall be deemed to have left work voluntarily and the leaving shall be without good cause attributable to the employer. However, if the employee shows to the satisfaction of the Commission that it was impracticable or unduly burdensome for the employee to work until the announced separation date, the permanent disqualification imposed for leaving work without good cause attributable to the employer may be reduced to the greater of four weeks or the period running from the beginning of the week during which the claim for benefits was made until the end of the week of the announced separation date.
Let me explain something, many states say that an employee may have good cause for voluntarily quitting due to their own health, but usually, if the cause is health and not related to the work .. they can’t work .. and will be denied benefits because they are not able and available for any work.
In your case .. you have stated that the direct cause of your panic attacks is the work.
What this means to me is that you must be able to prove you sought remedy from the employer and would be best to be able to prove the intolerable conditions that caused the panic attacks (witness is good, but anonymity will be impossible) and you need the medical documentation and in my mind .. it needs to point a finger of blame at the stress caused by the work.
Hope you’re following the twist and turns that quitting usually takes. Not all states require medical documentation under all circumstances of health as the cause for quitting.
See Colorado’s ramblings on quitting for health reasons
Or better still .. read North Carolina unemployment decisions on the subject.