A woman with chronic asthma who quit her nursing job on the advice of her doctor during the COVID-19 pandemic was ineligible to receive standard unemployment benefits under the Michigan Employment Security, or MES, Act, a panel of the Michigan Court of Appeals has held.
An administrative law judge and the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Commission upheld the Unemployment Insurance Agency’s determination to deny the woman’s request for standard unemployment benefits under the MES Act. The trial court, relying on MCL 421.29, reversed.
But the appeals court said that reliance was misplaced, saying the agency didn’t deny benefits on this basis.
“Instead, claimant was deemed ineligible for state unemployment benefits because she could not satisfy the separate work requirement of MCL 421.28(1)(c),” the judges explained. “Nothing in MCL 421.29 indicates this requirement was suspended.”
The unpublished decision, Farrell-Russano v. Dep’t of Labor & Econ. Opportunity (MiLW 08-107005, 4 pages), was issued by Judges Thomas C. Cameron, Stephen L. Borrello and Colleen A. O’Brien.
Background
Elizabeth Farrell-Russano, who suffers from chronic asthma, worked as a “bedside nurse” at Beaumont Hospital. On the advice of her doctor, she quit her job because of the increased risk to her health because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
She sought standard unemployment benefits from the Unemployment Insurance Agency, or UIA. The agency granted the application and began issuing benefits.
Later,...
Singapore authorities have charged the former CEO of collapsed crypto lender Hodlnaut Zhu Juntao with fraud, nearly four years after the firm froze withdrawals during the collapse of the TerraUSD ...