Just Cause
You will not be sanctioned for leaving a job voluntarily if you can show that you had just cause in doing so.
There is no hard and fast definition of what a just cause may be. Decision makers are advised to take all the factors relating to your leaving into account. They are also reminded that it is insufficient to show that you acted resonably in your own interests, it is also neccesary to show that your leaving was in the public interest.
Jobseeker's Allowance Page Index.
Introduction to Jobseeker's Allowance.
Jobseeker's Allowance and being available for work.
Jobseeker's Allowance and actively seeking work.
Jobseeker's Allowance and being capable of work.
Jobseeker's Allowance and education.
Jobseeker's Allowance rates of pay.
Residence rules for Jobseeker's Allowance.
Income based Jobseeker's Allowance.
What follows is a summary of the guidance to decision makers on the definition of "just cause". I have included as many examples as possible but readers must be aware that this area is vague and will need to be clarified by further case law.
How Just Cause is defined.
You will have just cause if you can show that some feature of your employment or personal or domestic life has justified you leaving work. You need to show that the cirumstances leading to your leaving were urgent.
You will have just cause if you can show that the circumstances under which you left work "almost" amount to just cause and you had a promise or a chance of some other continuous work that is likely to last for some time. You will also show just cause if the circumstances almost amount to just cause and you have a promise of a new full time job to start at once. Neither "almost" or "some time" is given any kind of definition.
You will have just cause for leaving if you are entitled to the national minimum wage and you have asked your employer to pay you at the level that applies to you and your employer has refused.
You may have just cause if you can show that you were genuinely ignorant or mistaken as to the nature or conditions of the job when you accepted and that you left after giving it a fair trial.
You may have just cause if the job was a new type of employment for you and this work didn't suit you. The example given is of someone who takes on the job of trainee office manager but leaves after six weeks because he believes that the work is too difficult for him.
If you have been required to work more than 48 hours per week you will have just cause but you will need to show that you tried to resolve the problem with your employer before you left.
You will have just cause for leaving if you can show that the job's terms and conditions were so unsuitable that you could not reasonably be expected to stay. Again, you will need to show that you have taken steps to resolve the problem.
You will have just cause if your employer fails to comply with some aspect of your contract of employment and you left shortly after starting work. In these circumstances, decision makers are advised to obtain a copy of the contract of emplyment.
The guidance states that you may not have left voluntarily if your employer changes your terms and conditions without consultation or notice. The example is given of a piece worker whose employer changes the way his pay is calculated and imposes this at once. This is contrasted with someone who is given a month's notice of a similar change.The first person has just cause whereas the second person doesn't. You will not have just cause if you leave before giving the new terms an adequate trial or if it isn't possible to say for definite what the effect of changes would be.
You will have just cause if you have left because you had a "genuine and substantial" grievance about some aspect of your employment (except for levels of pay) and that you have tried in a "proper and reasonable" way to get it settled but failed.
With regard to greivances, the following examples are given of people who would not have good cause-
A buidling site foreman feels that his office is unsuitable even though he has not used the workers or materials available to make it suitable. He feels that his employers are hostile to trade unions and that they are about to give work to non-union firms. He does not consult with his trade union with regard to getting these issues resolved.
An actress and her colleagues, without consulting their union, tell their employer that they will leave unless he meets certain demands. The employer responds by terminating their employment. The guidance states that they should have referred the matter to their union.
A sales representative leaves because she doesn't agree with the firm's sales policy nor is she happy about her working conditions and those of her colleagues.
You will have just cause if you can show that you have been required to do work that isn't covered by your contract of employment. The examples given are of a waitress who was ordered to peel potatoes and an apprentice electrician who is ordered to repair a leak in a water pipe, he refuses and his employer tells him to either fix the pipe or leave. Both of these would have just cause.
You would have good cause for leaving if you can show that you have unwittingly taken a post that is vacant because of a trade dispute.
If you are a trade union official you may have just cause if your employer has punished you because you have exercised your rights under trade union and employment legislation. The example given is of a recently elected trade union official whose employer docks a week's pay and moves him to a job that pays less money because he had attended a union approved course on industrial relations against their wishes. Before leaving his union try different ways to get the lost money reinstated and for him to be restored to his original job.
You will have just cause if you can show that your employer required you to do something that conflicted with your "sincerely held" religious or conscientious principles. The following are given as examples of such principles:
In order to show just cause you will need to provide sufficient evidence to demonstrate that your principles are sincerely held. The guidance is silent on what kinds of evidence may be considered.
You may have just cause if you have been put on short time working and have been given a firm offer of better paid employment elsewhere. If you are living and working away from home and your earnings have been substantially reduced and it is likely that you are about to be made redundant and you thought you would find employment in the very near future then you will have just cause.
You may have just cause if you can show that you disliked working overtime but were required to do so. Decision makers are advised to take the following factors into account:
Somewhat bizzarely the guidance states that if you are sacked for refusing to work overtime, the DWP may consider that you have lost employment through misconduct.
You will have just cause to leave work if you have a firm offer of new employment which you reasonable expected to start immediately and would last for a "long time".
You may have just cause if you leave work to take up a course of study which will enhance your career. However, the DWP would then have to consider whether you are actually available for work.
You will have just cause if you can show that your personal and domestic circumstances have become so urgent that you had no choice other than to leave work without having looked for other employment. Two examples are given:
Both of these individuals would have just cause for leaving.
You will have just cause if you leave work because you have moved house and this has taken you above the ninety minute (each way) journey time to work. However, you need to show "some urgent personal reason" for your move, the examples given are:
The DWP will also take into account the steps that you have taken to find work in the area that you have moved to.
You may have just cause for leaving if you have moved home because:
In these cases, in order to demonstrate just cause you will need to show that you have done everything reasonably possible to find work in the new area which you could start immediately after moving.
If you are under 18 and living at home you will have just cause if your parents move and you move with them if you can show that your parents would object to you living away from home.
If you are over 18 and you move with your parents, you will have just cause if you can show that there is a strong reason why you should continue to live with you parents. Examples of a strong reason are given as:
You will have just cause for leaving if you can show that the work was beyond your physical capacity.
You will have just cause for leaving if you can show that the work was so harmful to your health that it would be unreasonable to expect you to stay until you had found another job.
In this case your doctor will normally be contacted to provide supporting evidence. You will be found to have good cause if your doctor confirms that the work was harmful to your health or that he advised you to leave.
Where there isn't supporting medical evidence but you genuinely believe that your health prevented you doing the work properly or that the work was making your health worse then the DWP may reduce the length of your sanction.
You have just cause for leaving if you live away from home for long periods (in order to work) and have to return to your home because you are urgently needed there or the cost incurred in living aay from home were unreasonably high when compared with your wages.
The example given is of someone whose wife becomes ill and there is no one else to take care of her.
You will have just cause if you can show you live in a remote place and that travelling to and from work took up an unreasonably high part of your earnings and that you could not move home to somewhere nearer work.
You will have just cause if you can show that you worked long or awkward hours and that these needed to be altered or reduced in order to enable you to care for an ill relative. You will need to demonstrate that you tried unsuccessfully to get your hours changed before you left.
The guidance points out that decision makers shouldn't be too harsh with regard unemployed people who take a chance and try different types of work rather than sticking to their previous areas of expertise. The example is given of somone who resigned from her job as a trainee office manager after six weeks of a three month probationary period. She had concluded that she wasn't suited to the work and thought that it was unfair to continue training when she felt that the work was beyond her abilities. This person would be considered to have just cause.
