Page 151

VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT EMPLOYMENT SERVICES OF SOCIAL SERVICES AND VOLUNTARY QUIT/WORK REDUCTION

10/24 VOLUME V, PART VIII, PAGE 6

sanction period will be from the date of the quit or work reduction. The BPS must provide the household with a Notice of Action to deny the application. The notice must inform the household of the proposed disqualification period, its right to reapply at the end of the disqualification period, and of its right to a fair hearing. For voluntary quits or work reductions that occur after the date of application but before the application is processed, the household may be eligible for benefits for the period prior to imposition of the sanction. See Part XIII.D.2. for information on prorating benefits in these situations.

An application filed in the last month of disqualification must be used for the denial of benefits in the remaining month of disqualification and for certification for any subsequent month(s), if all other eligibility criteria are met.

4. Voluntary Quit or Work Reduction for Participating Households

The BPS may discover retroactively that an individual in a participating household quit a job or reduced work without good cause. If an individual who is not otherwise exempt from work registration at the time of a job quit or work reduction without good cause, the individual or household must be disqualified. The disqualification may result from a quit or work reduction that occurred during the certification period, an infraction that occurred within 60 days prior to application for benefits, or one that occurred between application and certification. In these instances, the BPS must provide the household with an Advance Notice of Proposed Action within 10 days after the determination of a quit or reduction. The notice must include the act of noncompliance committed, the proposed period of ineligibility, and it must specify that the household may reapply at the end of the disqualification period. The period of ineligibility will be assigned according to Part VIII.C and will run continuously beginning with the first of the month after all normal procedures for taking adverse action have been followed.

If a voluntary quit or work reduction occurs in the last month of a certification period or is discovered in the last month of the certification period, the procedure the BPS follows depends on whether a recertification application is filed. If a recertification application is filed by the end of the certification period, the household must be denied or the individual will be disqualified beginning with the day after the certification period ends.

If the household does not apply for recertification by the end of the certification period, establish a claim for benefits received for up to the number of months for the penalty, beginning the first of the month after the month in which the quit or reduction occurred. If there are fewer than the number of months for the penalty from the first of the month after the quit or work reduction occurred to the end of the certification period, the BPS must establish a claim and the household remains ineligible for the balance of the disqualification period. If no claim is warranted, the household is ineligible for the number of months for the penalty, beginning with the first month following the end of the certification period.

Example

Certification period ends March 31. The BPS discovers on March 4 that a quit or work reduction occurred January 22. This is the second violation incurred by the household member.

TRANSMITTAL #35