Tulloh v. Virginia Employment Commission

**Tulloh v. Virginia Employment Commission (2004)** This case involved an employee who worked for The Trugreen Company and was told he needed to work a required Saturday shift. Instead of working the shift, the employee said he would quit rather than work on Saturday and left his job. When the employee applied for unemployment benefits, the Virginia Employment Commission denied his claim. The employee challenged this decision in court, arguing he should receive benefits. However, the court sided with the Employment Commission and upheld the denial of unemployment benefits. The court ruled that the employee had voluntarily quit his job without "good cause" when he chose to leave rather than work the required Saturday shift. Under unemployment law, workers who voluntarily quit without a valid reason are typically not eligible for unemployment benefits. **What this means for workers:** If your employer requires you to work additional shifts or changes your schedule, simply refusing and quitting may disqualify you from receiving unemployment benefits. To maintain eligibility for benefits, workers generally need to show they had good cause for leaving (such as unsafe working conditions or significant changes to their job terms) or that they were fired without misconduct on their part.