Employees who are laid off by their employers may be entitled to unemployment benefits. However, where an employee voluntarily leaves his position, he is generally not entitled to unemployment benefits unless he left for good cause attributable to the work.

 In a recent unpublished Appellate Division case, Paolini v. Board of Review, Dep’t of Labor, No. A-1208-10T4 (July 6, 2011), the court considered an employee who requested that his employer lay him off because he would be moving to Florida. In a resignation letter sent to the owner of the company, the employee explained that because of his wife’s health problems he would be moving to Florida to be closer to family. He explained that he had already sold his house and had a job lined up in Florida. The employee requested that he be laid off as of the end of that month.

 The employer told the employee that “layoffs are [only] if there is lack of work; currently we need him to perform his job. And . . . if he needs to leave [his employment] he must resign.” Further, the employer explained that it was unable to layoff an employee at his request to facilitate his eligibility for unemployment benefits. Consequently, near the end of the month, the employee resigned and subsequently filed for unemployment compensation.

 The Deputy Director of the Division of Unemployment Insurance determined that the employee had voluntarily left his employment based largely on the resignation letter. On appeal, the court reaffirmed this determination and found the former employee had no right to unemployment benefits because he voluntarily left his employment because of personal reasons relating to his wife’s health.