CHRISTINE A. SPENGLER v. BOARD OF REVIEW, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

 

NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE

APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION

SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY

APPELLATE DIVISION

DOCKET NO. A-1977-06T24933-06T1

CHRISTINE A. SPENGLER,

Appellant,

v.

BOARD OF REVIEW, DEPARTMENT

OF LABOR, and UNITED STATES

POSTAL SERVICE,

Respondents.

____________________________________________________________

 

Submitted May 21, 2008 - Decided

Before Judges Parker and Koblitz.

On appeal from a Final Agency Decision of the Board of Review, Department of Labor, Docket No. 144,092.

Christine A. Spengler, appellant pro se.

Anne Milgram, Attorney General, attorney for respondent (Patrick DeAlmeida, Assistant Attorney General, of counsel; John C. Turi, Deputy Attorney General, on the brief).

PER CURIAM

Claimant Christine Spengler appeals from a final decision of the Board of Review (Board) dated May 11, 2007, which affirmed the Appeal Tribunal's denial of benefits after a hearing. We affirm.

Claimant was employed as a mail carrier for the U.S. Postal Service from February 13, 1999 through January 11, 2007. She attended college at night while working five days per week. Her employer accommodated her school schedule, allowing her to begin her work early and leave early on class days. Claimant was majoring in education and was required to take an internship for student teaching in order to graduate. She requested a leave of absence for the semester to complete the internship but was advised that "there is no such thing as a leave of absence" in the Postal Service. She resigned in order to complete the internship and graduate.

When she applied for unemployment compensation, her benefits were denied because she had left her job voluntarily to undertake the internship. Claimant appealed and, after a hearing, the Appeal Tribunal found that she left work voluntarily without good cause attributable to the work. N.J.S.A. 43:21-5(a).

We have carefully considered claimant's arguments in light of the applicable law and we are satisfied that they lack sufficient merit to warrant discussion in a written opinion. R. 2:11-3(e)(1)(E). Nevertheless, we add the following comments.

In this appeal, claimant argues that she left her job "in order to take a better position because of factors related to [the] work [constitutes] good cause attributable to the work and, therefore, she should not have been disqualified for benefits." She maintains that because the work could not accommodate her internship, she left the job and that constitutes leaving because of work. That, however, does not constitute "good cause attributable to the work" under N.J.S.A. 43:21-5(a). Leaving one's job to accept a "substantially more favorable position" does not qualify a person for unemployment benefits. Rider College v. Bd. of Review, 167 N.J. Super. 42, 48 (App. Div. 1979).

Affirmed.

 

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A-4933-06T1

August 18, 2008