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<section article="gle" article_name="Labor and Employment" number="8-1001" title_number="8" title_name="Unemployment Insurance" subtitle_number="10" subtitle_name="Disqualification">
  <level label="a">
    <level label="1">
      <text>An individual who otherwise is eligible to receive benefits is disqualified from receiving benefits if the Secretary finds that unemployment results from voluntarily leaving work without good cause.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>A claimant who is otherwise eligible for benefits from the loss of full–time employment may not be disqualified from the benefits attributable to the full–time employment because the claimant voluntarily quit a part–time employment, if the claimant quit the part–time employment before the loss of the full–time employment.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="b">
    <text>The Secretary may find that a cause for voluntarily leaving is good cause only if:</text>
    <level label="1">
      <text>the cause is directly attributable to, arising from, or connected with:</text>
      <level label="i">
        <text>the conditions of employment; or</text>
      </level>
      <level label="ii">
        <text>the actions of the employing unit;</text>
      </level>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>an individual:</text>
      <level label="i">
        <text>is laid off from employment through no fault of the individual;</text>
      </level>
      <level label="ii">
        <text>obtains subsequent employment that pays weekly wages that total less than 50% of the weekly wage earned in the employment from which the individual was laid off; and</text>
      </level>
      <level label="iii">
        <text>leaves the subsequent employment to attend a training program for which the individual has been chosen that:</text>
        <level label="1">
          <text>is offered under the Maryland Workforce Development Act; or</text>
        </level>
        <level label="2">
          <text>otherwise is approved by the Secretary; or</text>
        </level>
      </level>
    </level>
    <level label="3">
      <text>the cause is directly attributable to the individual or the individual’s spouse, minor child, or parent being a victim of domestic violence as defined in § 4–513 of the Family Law Article and the individual:</text>
      <level label="i">
        <text>reasonably believes that the individual’s continued employment would jeopardize the individual’s safety or the safety of the individual’s spouse, minor child, or parent; and</text>
      </level>
      <level label="ii">
        <text>provides one of the following types of documentation to the Secretary substantiating domestic violence:</text>
        <level label="1">
          <text>an active or a recently issued temporary protective order under § 4–505 of the Family Law Article, a protective order under § 4–506 of the Family Law Article, or any other court order documenting the domestic violence; or</text>
        </level>
        <level label="2">
          <text>a police record documenting recent domestic violence.</text>
        </level>
      </level>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="c">
    <level label="1">
      <text>A circumstance for voluntarily leaving work is valid only if it is:</text>
      <level label="i">
        <text>a substantial cause that is directly attributable to, arising from, or connected with conditions of employment or actions of the employing unit;</text>
      </level>
      <level label="ii">
        <text>of such necessitous or compelling nature that the individual has no reasonable alternative other than leaving the employment; or</text>
      </level>
      <level label="iii">
        <text>caused by the individual leaving employment to follow a spouse if:</text>
        <level label="1">
          <text>the spouse:</text>
        </level>
        <level label="A">
          <text>serves in the uniformed services; or</text>
        </level>
        <level label="B">
          <text>is a civilian employee of the uniformed services or of a federal agency involved in uniformed services operations; and</text>
        </level>
        <level label="2">
          <text>the spouse’s employer requires a mandatory transfer to a new location.</text>
        </level>
      </level>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>For determination of the application of paragraph (1)(ii) of this subsection to an individual who leaves employment because of the health of the individual or another for whom the individual must care, the individual shall submit a written statement or other documentary evidence of the health problem from a hospital or physician.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="d">
    <text>In addition to other circumstances for which a disqualification may be imposed, neither good cause nor a valid circumstance exists and a disqualification shall be imposed if an individual leaves employment:</text>
    <level label="1">
      <text>to become self–employed;</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>to accompany a spouse to a new location or to join a spouse in a new location, unless the requirements of subsection (c)(1)(iii) of this section are met; or</text>
    </level>
    <level label="3">
      <text>to attend an educational institution.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="e">
    <text>A disqualification under this section:</text>
    <level label="1">
      <text>shall begin with the first week for which unemployment is caused by voluntarily leaving without good cause; and</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>subject to subsection (c) of this section, shall continue:</text>
      <level label="i">
        <text>if a valid circumstance exists, for a total of at least 5 but not more than 10 weeks, as determined by the Secretary based on the seriousness of the circumstance; or</text>
      </level>
      <level label="ii">
        <text>if a valid circumstance does not exist, until the individual is reemployed and has earned wages for covered employment that equal at least 15 times the weekly benefit amount of the individual.</text>
      </level>
    </level>
  </level>
</section>
