Unemployment Benefits
G.L. c. 151A, § 25 — good cause attributable to the employer, or deliberate misconduct
In Massachusetts, a person is disqualified from benefits, until they have had at least eight weeks of work and earned 8 times their weekly benefit amount, if they left work voluntarily without good cause attributable to the employer, which they show by substantial and credible evidence.
Fired: deliberate misconduct, or a knowing rule violation. A person discharged is disqualified only if it is shown that the discharge was for deliberate misconduct in wilful disregard of the employer's interest, or a knowing violation of a reasonable and uniformly enforced rule, not the result of incompetence.
- A discharge due to circumstances resulting from domestic violence.
- Leaving in good faith for a new permanent full time job, then losing it for good cause attributable to the new employer.
- Reasons so urgent, compelling and necessitous that the separation was involuntary.
Sources for this section (1)
- G.L. c. 151A, § 25 — Disqualification for unemployment benefits
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Massachusetts attorney.