## Facts

- Kenneth Peterson was employed at a state-run hospital in New Hampshire.
- Peterson suffered an injury arising out of and in the course of that employment.
- He received weekly workers’ compensation benefits.
- Peterson underwent surgery, but after recovery he remained medically unable to perform his former job.
- The hospital had no available positions that Peterson could perform within his physical limitations.
- Peterson entered into a lump-sum workers’ compensation settlement that included his agreement to resign from employment and accept a lump-sum payment in place of continued weekly benefits.
- After his separation, Peterson applied for unemployment compensation.
- The New Hampshire Department of Employment Security denied benefits on the ground that Peterson had left work voluntarily.
- The agency’s appellate tribunal affirmed the denial, and Peterson appealed to the Supreme Court of New Hampshire.

## Issues

1. Whether an employee “left work voluntarily without good cause attributable to the employer,” and is therefore disqualified from unemployment benefits, when he resigns as part of a lump-sum workers’ compensation settlement after a work-related injury prevents him from returning to his job and the employer has no suitable work available.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of New Hampshire reversed the agency’s determination that Peterson was disqualified for voluntarily leaving work.
- The court held that, on these facts, Peterson’s resignation in connection with the workers’ compensation settlement was not a disqualifying voluntary quit for personal reasons under RSA 282-A:53 and RSA 282-A:67 (Supp. 1983).
- The court remanded for further proceedings consistent with its ruling, including consideration of any remaining eligibility requirements for unemployment benefits.

## Legal Principles

- Under New Hampshire unemployment law, a claimant is disqualified if he leaves work voluntarily without good cause attributable to the employer. RSA 282-A:53, :67 (Supp. 1983).
- An employee who resigns for purely personal reasons is ordinarily not entitled to unemployment compensation. (Citing Putnam v. Dep’t of Employment Sec., 103 N.H. 495, 175 A.2d 519 (1961).)
- The voluntariness of a separation is determined by the real cause of the termination of the employment relationship, not solely by the form of a resignation document.
- When a work-related injury leaves the employee medically unable to perform his former job and the employer has no other suitable position available, a resignation connected to those circumstances is not treated as a voluntary quit for disqualifying personal reasons.
- A resignation clause included in a lump-sum workers’ compensation settlement does not, by itself, convert an injury- and job-availability-based separation into a disqualifying voluntary quit.

## Conclusion

Because Peterson’s employment ended after a work-related injury left him unable to return to his job and the hospital had no work he could perform, his resignation as part of a lump-sum workers’ compensation settlement was not a disqualifying voluntary quit under RSA 282-A:53 and :67; the denial of unemployment benefits on that ground was reversed and the matter was remanded for further proceedings.


Appeal of Peterson, 126 N.H. 605, 495 A.2d 1266 (1985)