WILLIAM H. POWELL, JR. v. BOARD OF REVIEW, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, et al.

 

NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE

APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION

SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY

APPELLATE DIVISION

DOCKET NO. A-5877-04T35877-04T3

WILLIAM H. POWELL, JR.,

Appellant,

v.

BOARD OF REVIEW, DEPARTMENT

OF LABOR, and EAST ORANGE

GENERAL HOSPITAL,

Respondents.

_______________________________________

 

Submitted March 7, 2006 - Decided March 28, 2006

Before Judges Skillman and Sabatino.

On appeal from the Board of Review, Department of Labor, Division of Unemployment and Disability Insurance, Docket No. 68,627.

William H. Powell, Jr., appellant pro se.

Zulima V. Farber, Attorney General, attorney for respondent Board of Review, Department of Labor, (Michael J. Haas, Assistant Attorney General, and Ellen A. Reichart, Deputy Attorney General, of counsel; Ms. Reichart, on the brief).

PER CURIAM

Claimant William H. Powell, Jr., appeals the Board of Review's decision affirming the Appeal Tribunal's denial of unemployment benefits to claimant arising out of his resignation from employment with East Orange General Hospital. We affirm.

Claimant began working with the hospital in March 2004 as a social work clerk and clinical resource management assistant. In the fall of 2004 claimant, an ordained minister, was invited to Japan to participate in a ministry opportunity. After speaking with his supervisor, who informed him that he had not worked for the hospital long enough to qualify for a leave of absence, claimant submitted a letter of resignation on October 21, 2004. He returned to the United States from Japan in December 2004. In the two-month interim, the hospital had filled his position with another worker. It did not offer claimant re-employment.

The Appeal Tribunal and the Board both concluded that claimant had left his work with the hospital "voluntarily without good cause attributable to such work," thereby disentitling claimant to benefits under N.J.S.A. 43:21-5(a). We are satisfied that the record contains substantial credible evidence supporting that conclusion, and that the agencies' determinations are neither arbitrary nor capricious. See Brady v. Bd. of Review, 152 N.J. 197, 210 (1997).

Claimant relies upon Rider College v. Bd. of Review, 167 N.J. Super. 42 (App. Div. 1979) in arguing that his voluntary pursuit of the ministry opportunity in Japan amounts to good cause attributable to his work at the hospital. However, Ryan does not support claimant's position. In Ryan, we reversed the Board of Review's award of unemployment benefits to a claimant who had resigned from his administrative position at Rider College in New Jersey upon taking a job with a college in Wisconsin for a higher rate of pay. We held that the claimant's reasons for voluntarily pursuing a substantially more favorable position at the Wisconsin college were personal in nature, rendering him ineligible to collect unemployment benefits upon his return to New Jersey, only four short days after his resignation from Rider College. Id. at 48.

Here, claimant's decision to pursue his religious ministry abroad likewise was motivated by personal reasons unrelated to his work at the hospital. Because claimant's brief tenure with the hospital did not qualify him for a leave of absence under its personnel policies, the hospital was not obligated to rehire him. Indeed, the record reflects that claimant was uncertain at the time of his resignation whether he would even return to the United States, thereby making the hospital's replacement of him with another worker entirely justifiable. The economic consequences flowing from claimant's resignation are simply the result of his own voluntary conduct. He has not sustained his burden of proof under the statute to establish a right to benefits.

Affirmed.

 

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A-5877-04T3

March 28, 2006