Plein v. Department of Labor6/12/2002
or physician.
(d) Required disqualification. -- in addition to other circumstances for which a disqualification may be imposed, neither good cause nor a valid circumstance exist and a disqualification shall be imposed if an individual leaves employment:
(1) to become self-employed;
(2) to accompany a spouse to a new location or to join a spouse in a new location; or
(3) to attend an educational institution" (emphasis added).
Noting that § 8-1001 (b) was the applicable section because it was there that the Legislature defined "good cause" in terms of two permitted and definitive findings, 360 Md. at 397, 758 A.2d at 130, and the rules of statutory construction that we determined to be relevant, id. at 395, 758 A.2d at 128, we concluded that " plain reading of § 8-1001 makes clear that leaving employment for a better paying job does not constitute "good cause." Id. Focusing on the difference between subsection (b)(1), which permits a finding of good cause only when the reason for voluntarily leaving employment "`is directly attributable to, arising from, or connected with' either a condition of employment or an action of the employment unit,"' id., and subsection (b)(2), in which the triggering event is the employee's being laid off without fault, id., we reasoned that "good cause must be found, if at all, under subsection (b)(1)." Id. at 398, 758 A.2d at 130.
Analyzing subsection (b)(1), we said:
"Under subsection (b)(1), to be good cause, the reason for voluntarily leaving employment must be job related, see [Board of Educ. of Montgomery County v.] Paynter, supra, 303 Md. at 29, 491 A.2d at 1189-90 (1985), and more particularly, relate to the conditions existing on the claimant's job or involve acts by the claimant's employment unit. See § 8-1001(b)(1). An offer of greater pay by another employer to induce the claimant's voluntary termination does not qualify; because such offers are conditions of the offered employment and thus only relate to the conditions of the future employment. Although, to be sure, while affecting employment conditions generally, and, perhaps, the claimant's employment in some way, they surely are not "directly attributable to, arising from or connected with" the conditions existing in the employing unit from which the claimant resigned. If an offer of greater pay can be "good cause" for an employee voluntarily to terminate otherwise satisfactory employment, then any condition of future employment which compares favorably with the claimant's present employment and is offered and accepted, as an inducement to the claimant to leave that employment, must also be considered "good cause." 360 Md. at 398, 758 A.2d at 130.
In Paynter,this Court construed the predecessor to that section, Maryland Ann. Code art. 95A, § 6 (1957, 1979 Repl. Vol.). It concluded that art. 95, § 6 (a) was unambiguous, "command that good cause be job related," and recognized as an alternative valid circumstance for voluntarily leaving work, one "of such necessitous or compelling nature that the individual had no reasonable alternative other than to leave the employment." 303 Md. at 29-30, 491 A.2d at 1190.
Relying on Paynter for confirmation of the interpretation given § 8-1001 (a), the Total Audio-Visual Court was persuaded by the fact that the statutory scheme, as reflected in § 8-1001, remained as it was when Paynter was decided. 360 Md. at 400, 758 A.2d at 131. Section § 8-1001 (c), like art. 95, § 6(a) before it, we pointed out, places circumstances for voluntarily leaving work into two categories, thus, drawing a distinction between those that are work related and those that are not work rela
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