Published on 24 Jan 2013 • Pennsylvania, United States
This Law Firm Publication by Jackson Lewis LLP discusses Diehl v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, in which the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that the "voluntary layoff" provision of the Pennsylvania Unemployment Compensation Law allows employees to receive unemployment compensation benefits when they accept an early retirement incentive offered as part of a reduction in force. The court held that the term "layoff," although undefined in the statute, applied to both temporary and permanent employment terminations and therefore included retirement. This decision overrules 30 years of precedent and will likely increase the number of unemployment compensation claims for employers offering early retirement incentives.