HR Specialist: Pennslyvania Employment Law

Jurors in Pennsylvania are notoriously generous to fired employees. And that’s just the beginning. Aggressive attorneys don’t stop with federal laws like FMLA, ADA and FLSA: they use state and local living-wage statutes, rural codes, plus discrimination and other laws to sue employers for sky’s-the-limit damages. This Pennsylvania-specific newsletter arrives monthly to help sue-proof every aspect of HR. Written in plain English, it’s your insurance policy for staying in step with current interpretations of state and local laws – and staying out of court. Learn more about HR Specialist: Pennsylvania Employment Law and the free report you’ll get when you subscribe...
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Q. I have an employee who hurt her neck, went to the doctor and never came back. However she has been in contact with me and keeps me updated. She has been out for three months, and had surgery a couple weeks after her injury. She told me she would not be returning for a few more weeks. In the meantime I received an unemployment claim form from her. We denied it because we did not let her go. Do any Pennsylvania laws state she can collect unemployment?

A.  To be eligible to collect unemployment compensation in Pennsylvania, the employee must be able to work and must be out of work either because of an action by the employer or because the employee quit for compelling and necessitous reasons. Based on the facts you outline, this employee probably isn’t eligible. She is out of her own accord, and she is not able to work.