Murphy v. Employment Sec. Dept. of State

In Murphy v. Employment Sec. Dept. of State, 47 Wn. App. 252, 734 P.2d 924 (Wash.Ct.App. 1987), the Washington Court of Appeals observed the purpose of the unemployment security act is to combat involuntary unemployment by providing benefits to persons unemployed through no fault of their own. The court went on to hold: "To establish good cause for becoming voluntarily unemployed, a claimant must demonstrate (1) he or she left work primarily because of a work-connected factor of such a compelling nature that a reasonably prudent person would have left his or her employment, and (2) he or she first exhausted all reasonable alternatives prior to termination. Whether a work-connected factor of such a compelling nature would cause a reasonably prudent person to leave his or her employment ... is determined by the particular facts in each case." (734 P.2d at 926.)