IN RE: the Claim of Carol W. OSIKA (1999)

Appeal from a decision of the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board, filed March 10, 1998, which, upon reconsideration, adhered to its prior decision ruling that claimant was disqualified from receiving unemployment insurance benefits because she voluntarily left her employment without good cause.

In January 1996, claimant's husband was transferred to North Carolina.   After looking for housing in North Carolina, claimant and her husband contracted to build a new house in March 1996, with an anticipated completion date of July 1996.   Claimant resigned from her employment as a laboratory technician in July 1996 in anticipation of the scheduled date of completion of her new home;  due to construction delays, however, the house was not completed until October 1996, at which time claimant relocated to North Carolina.   The Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board found that the decision to build a new house rather than purchase a preexisting one was a matter of personal preference and ruled that claimant delayed the relocation for noncompelling reasons.

 We reverse.   It is well settled that “[a] reasonably brief delay in resigning from one's job in order to join a relocating spouse will not disqualify a claimant from receiving benefits, provided that the resignation was intended at the time the spouse relocated” (Matter of Stuber [M. Shanken Communications-Commissioner of Labor], 253 A.D.2d 665, 677 N.Y.S.2d 824;  see, Matter of Di Napoli [Commissioner of Labor], 249 A.D.2d 665, 671 N.Y.S.2d 201).   Here, the record reveals that claimant intended to relocate with her husband at the time of his transfer.   As the delay in claimant's move was reasonable under the circumstances, we reverse the decision of the Board that claimant voluntarily left her employment without good cause.

ORDERED that the decision is reversed, without costs, and matter remitted to the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board for further proceedings not inconsistent with this court's decision.

MEMORANDUM DECISION.