A claimant, to be eligible for benefits, must be available to work during the hours and days that the work of his or her usual occupation or work for which he or she is reasonably fitted is customarily performed.
However, the Courts have held that a claimant does not have to be available for work every day of the week, even if the claimant’s usual occupation customarily calls for a seven-day workweek, if he or she has good cause for restricting work to certain days or hours and there still exists a substantial employment field for his or her services in light of the restriction. (Sanchez v. C.U.I.A.B. (1977) 20 Cal.3d 55, 141 Cal.Rptr. 146.)
In P-B-17 the claimant, a service station worker, wanted to devote all or part of four days each week to religious work as a volunteer minister. He would not work as a service station worker at night on Tuesdays and Fridays nor at all on Saturdays and Sundays because he wanted to do religious work during those times. The Board found that the claimant’s restrictions took him out of the labor market and concluded that he was unavailable for work.
The Board held that to be considered available for work a claimant must be ready, willing, and able to accept suitable employment in a labor market where there is a reasonable demand for the claimant’s services.
In P-B-17 the Board stated:
A claimant is not available for work if, through personal preference or force of circumstances, he imposes unreasonable restrictions on suitable work such as limitations on hours, days, shifts or wages, which materially reduce the possibilities of obtaining employment.... [This case was cited with approval by Court of Appeal in Ballantyne, supra.]
For years the Board held that a claimant, to be available, must be available for work for each day during his or her normal workweek. Inability to work during any workday would render a claimant ineligible for benefits for the entire week. (P-B-18.) The Board would cite in support of this concept, Attorney General Opinions Nos. 10 Ops. Cal. Atty. Gen. 208 and 24 Ops. Cal. Atty. Gen. 81.
However, the Supreme Court, in Sanchez, supra, overrules this concept.
In P-B-61 the claimant, during the week ending July 7, 1969, reported to his draft Board for the purpose of taking a physical examination. He was there from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The Board held that since the claimant was engaged in a necessary activity preliminary to prospective military service, acting pursuant to orders of his draft Board, such activity on a regular working day did not render him unavailable for work that week.
Inability to work for a few hours in the claimant’s normal work day obviously does not render him or her ineligible for benefits. (P-B-18.)
If a claimant restricts his or her “availability” to part-time work he or she will usually be held “unavailable” for work unless the restriction is not unreasonable and there is a labor market for part-time workers in the claimant’s usual occupation.
InP-B-172 the Board stated, in part:
...a claimant who has imposed restrictions, for personal reasons, which limit acceptable employment to abnormal part-time hours not customary in work within the claimant’s training and experience has, to all intents and purposes, withdrawn from the labor market and is not available for work.... It has been our consistent position that unless there are unusual circumstances in a case, a claimant who restricts employment to reduced hours of work and who is not ready and willing to accept other suitable employment does not meet the eligibility provisions of the statute.... [See also P-B-202.]
In BD 4477 the Board stated, in part:
... unwillingness or inability to work the normal workweek in one’s usual occupation would ordinarily be a serious restriction on an individual’s availability for work, and, unless other facts show that the restriction is not unreasonable and does not serve to remove the claimant from the labor market, the claimant would ordinarily be held unavailable for work. If, on the other hand, the claimant’s restrictions are not unreasonable and do not have the effect of materially reducing the claimant’s opportunities to obtain employment, there would be no sound basis for holding the claimant unavailable for work....
Employment for part of a week does not render a worker unavailable for work if his or her earnings for that week were less than his or her weekly benefit amount. (P-B-169.) See also section 16.2.4.1.
For further discussion of how an employee’s refusal to work certain times may affect his or her eligibility for unemployment insurance benefits, see 35 ALR 3d 1129.