"good cause" for quit in NY

[IVsakeN]

What is the name of your state? New York

I have recently been denied for unemployment benefits. The entire staff where I worked were smoking pot on the job and were recently all let go for it. The reason states that I could have waited for human resources to deal with the matter and that my quit was personal. What I tried to explain is that there have been HR issues in the past and they were not dealt with. They even told the memebers that were doing drugs that someone had written a letter about them and spead the word. The general manager was looked at for breech of contract for this matter. I felt afraid and was unable to work under these conditions along with being harrased verbaly by the general manager and my direct manager unable to do his job. I felt she tried to ignore any underlaying issues and I am worried, now that I haven't been able to find other work, what am I going to do. I have many bills like the rest of us and I left out of stress and fear for my health. I am confused what I needed to prove to them that I didnt. Is taking them to court over this going to help a decision in my favor?

 

[Beth3]

So you quit because you didn't like the place. That is not a reason that would make you eligible for unemployment benefits. 95% of the time, individuals who voluntarily quit their jobs aren't eligible for UC.

As to "taking them to court," I don't understand what you mean. If you mean filing for a hearing with the UC Division to review the initial determination, you are free to do so but it is very unlikely that will change anything.

When you're unhappy with your job, your option is to find a new one and then resign, not quit and anticipate you'll be receiving unemployment.

 

[IVsakeN]

I wasn't just unhappy with my job I was unable to do my job since the working conditions changed dramatically with the drug use. There are many other links to the story of why I finally gave up and left. If drug use and bad working conditions aren't "good cause" when I tried to resolve the matters what is? The general manager was verbaly abusive, my direct manager and team were smoking pot on the job and I couldn't do my job without them. Im so confused. Any reasonable person would have left.