48-628.13. Good cause for voluntarily leaving employment, defined.

Good cause for voluntarily leaving employment shall include, but not be limited to, the following reasons:

(1) An individual has made all reasonable efforts to preserve the employment but voluntarily leaves his or her work for the necessary purpose of escaping abuse at the place of employment or abuse as defined in section 42-903 between household members;

(2) An individual left his or her employment voluntarily due to a bona fide non-work-connected illness or injury that prevented him or her from continuing the employment or from continuing the employment without undue risk of harm to the individual;

(3) An individual left his or her employment to accompany his or her spouse to the spouse's employment in a different city or new military duty station;

(4) An individual left his or her employment because his or her employer required the employee to relocate;

(5)(a) An individual is a construction worker and left his or her employment voluntarily for the purpose of accepting previously secured insured work in the construction industry if the commissioner finds that:

(i)(A) The quit occurred within thirty days immediately prior to the established termination date of the job which the individual voluntarily leaves, (B) the specific starting date of the new job is prior to the established termination date of the job which the worker quits, (C) the new job offered employment for a longer period of time than remained available on the job which the construction worker voluntarily quit, and (D) the worker had worked at least twenty days or more at the new job after the established termination date of the previous job unless the new job was terminated by a contract cancellation; or

(ii)(A) The construction worksite of the job which the worker quit was more than fifty miles from his or her place of residence, (B) the new construction job was fifty or more miles closer to his or her residence than the job which he or she quit, and (C) the worker actually worked twenty days or more at the new job unless the new job was terminated by a contract cancellation.

(b) The provisions of this subdivision (5) shall not apply if the individual is separated from the new job under conditions resulting in a disqualification from benefits under section 48-628.10 or 48-628.12;

(6) An individual accepted a voluntary layoff to avoid bumping another worker;

(7) An individual left his or her employment as a result of being directed to perform an illegal act;

(8) An individual left his or her employment because of unlawful discrimination or workplace harassment on the basis of race, sex, or age;

(9) An individual left his or her employment because of unsafe working conditions;

(10) An individual left his or her employment to attend school;

(11) An individual has made all reasonable efforts to preserve employment but voluntarily leaves employment for the purpose of caring for a family member with a serious health condition. For purposes of this subdivision:

(a) Family member means:

(i) A biological, adopted, or foster child, a stepchild, or a legal ward of the individual or the individual's spouse or a person to whom the individual or the individual's spouse stood in loco parentis when such person was a minor child, regardless of the age or dependency status of such child, stepchild, legal ward, or person;

(ii) A biological, adoptive, or foster parent, a stepparent, or a legal guardian of the individual or the individual's spouse or a person who stood in loco parentis to the individual or the individual's spouse when the individual or the individual's spouse was a minor child;

(iii) The individual's spouse; or

(iv) A grandparent, grandchild, or sibling, whether of a biological, foster, adoptive, or step relationship, of the individual or the individual's spouse; and

(b) Serious health condition has the same meaning as in 29 U.S.C. 2611, as such section existed on January 1, 2021; or

(12) Equity and good conscience demand a finding of good cause.

Source:Laws 2005, LB 739, § 7; R.S.1943, (2010), § 48-628.01; Laws 2017, LB172, § 43; Laws 2021, LB260, § 1.