Unemployment Insurance

Web Library Topic - Employer's Violation of an Employment Contract

Statute

§ 8‑73‑108(4)(h), C.R.S. 2005

(4) An individual separated from a job shall be given a full award of benefits if any of the following reasons and pertinent conditions related thereto are determined by the division to have existed. The determination of whether or not the separation from employment shall result in a full award of benefits shall be the responsibility of the division. The following reasons shall be considered, along with any other factors that may be pertinent to such determination:

(h) Quitting employment because of a violation of the written employment contract by the employer; except that before such quitting the worker must have exhausted all remedies provided in such written contract for the settlement of disputes before quitting his job.

Cases

Wade v. Hurley, 33 Colo. App. 30, 515 P.2d 491 (1973)

Regardless of what working conditions prevail among employees performing the same or similar work, a contract defining specific conditions of employment cannot be ignored.

Patterson v. Industrial Commission, 39 Colo. App. 255, 567 P.2d 385 (1977)

It is immaterial whether an employment contract was terminable at will, or that an employer could have discharged the claimant immediately following an altercation.  Rather, the claimant was entitled to unemployment benefits because the employer's subsequent discharge of the claimant for refusing to accept a transfer after the altercation violated the claimant's employment contract.

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