What Does Eligibility for Unemployment Benefits Depend Upon ?

In Case Western Reserve University v. Ohio Unemployment Compensation Review Commission, Cuyahoga App. No. 81773, 2003 Ohio 2047, a visiting professor, Zimmerman, was hired pursuant to an employment contract entered into between her and Case Western Reserve University. The employment contract stated that Zimmerman would be offered employment for the 2000-2001 academic school year. Id. Zimmerman left employment at the University at the expiration of her contract. Id. She subsequently applied for unemployment benefits and her application was allowed. Id. The University argued that she voluntarily entered into a temporary employment contract for a specified term and, at the end of the term, voluntarily left her employment with the University. Id. Accordingly, the University argued, she is ineligible for unemployment compensation. Id. The court disagreed with the University and stated that: 'the fact that the unemployment is the result of the expiration of a contract for employment is irrelevant.' the rationale for this position is that eligibility for unemployment benefits depends upon the establishment of an employment relationship followed by involuntary unemployment. Consequently, in Ohio a presumption exists that the employee separated for lack of work; this presumption may be rebutted by the employer testifying that it indeed had work but the employee left voluntarily."Id.