## Facts

- Enid G. Ballantyne had a substantial work history, including full-time and part-time jobs with varied schedules, while managing family and school responsibilities.
- After losing employment, she applied for and received unemployment insurance benefits.
- About six months later, she began attending law school full time, with classes five days a week at varying hours and extensive daily study.
- On an employment office questionnaire, she stated she would not accept work that conflicted with her class hours.
- The Employment Development Department (EDD) terminated benefits, finding she was not “available for work” under California Unemployment Insurance Code § 1253(c).
- An administrative law judge upheld the denial, reasoning that limiting availability to nights and weekends substantially excluded her from the labor market.
- The Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board reversed, finding her eligible; the superior court affirmed the Board.
- The EDD Director sought review in the California Supreme Court.

## Issues

1. Whether a claimant who is ready and willing to work but restricts availability due to full-time schooling is “available for work” under Unemployment Insurance Code § 1253(c).
2. Whether “availability” is satisfied by showing realistic access to a genuine, substantial segment of the labor market, despite schedule restrictions.

## Decision

- The California Supreme Court affirmed the judgment upholding the Appeals Board’s award of benefits.
- The court held that full-time student status and refusal to accept work conflicting with classes do not, as a matter of law, render a claimant unavailable for work.
- A claimant may satisfy § 1253(c) by demonstrating availability for work within a genuine, substantial field of employment that provides a realistic opportunity for work.
- The court deferred to the Appeals Board’s factual determination that Ballantyne remained attached to the labor market and had not substantially excluded herself from it.

## Legal Principles

- Under Unemployment Insurance Code § 1253(c), eligibility requires that the claimant be “able to work and available for work” during the claimed week.
- “Available for work” is assessed by labor-market attachment: the claimant must be ready, willing, and able to accept suitable work, and must not remove herself from a substantial field of employment.
- Self-imposed restrictions (including school schedules) are not categorically disqualifying; they are evaluated by whether the claimant still has realistic employment opportunities in the existing labor market.
- Administrative findings on labor-market realities and claimant availability are given deference absent legal error.

## Conclusion

A claimant’s full-time schooling and resulting limits on work hours do not automatically bar unemployment benefits; availability depends on whether the claimant remains realistically available to a substantial segment of the labor market and thus genuinely attached to it.


Glick v. Unemployment Ins. Appeals Bd., 23 Cal. 3d 493, 591 P.2d 24 (Cal. 1979)