Labor & Employment – Public Employees – Unemployment Compensation – Resignation without Good Cause – Threat by Client

A month after she was threatened by a client, a social worker resigned. Because the social worker did not wait for the employer to complete its process of following up on her complaint, take her complaint up the chain of command, or show that she had been or would be penalized for failing to continue working with the threatening client, the Department of Employment and Workforce could find that the social worker had resigned without good cause.

We affirm the department’s ruling that the social worker was indefinitely ineligible for unemployment benefits.

Geohaghan v. South Carolina Department of Employment & Workforce (Lawyers Weekly No. 011-011-23, 16 pp.) (Paula Thomas, J.) Appealed from the Administrative Law Court (Shirley Robinson, ALJ) Adam Protheroe for appellant; Eugene Hamilton Matthews, Todd Stuart Timmons and Benjamin Thomas Cook for respondents. S.C. App.