Blazowich v. UCBR - Cmwlth. Court - October 19, 2009 - unreported memorandum opinion
http://origin-www.courts.state.pa.us/OpPosting/Cwealth/out/754CD09_10-19-09.pdf
Transportation inconveniences constitute a necessitous and compelling reason for voluntary termination “only where they are ‘so serious and unreasonable as to present a virtually insurmountable problem and the claimant must demonstrate that he or she took reasonable steps to remedy or overcome the transportation problems prior to severing the employment relationship.’” Musguire v. UCBR, 415 A.2d 708, 709 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1980) (quoting Lee v. UCBR, 401 A.2d 12, 13 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1979).
A fifty-mile one-way commute, without more, does not constitute a necessitous and compelling reason to quit. Kieley v. UCBR, 471 A.2d 1345 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1984). Furthermore, a claimant who has not tried a sixty-mile commute, even for a single day, before severing the employment relationship, has not taken reasonable steps to overcome transportation problems. Musguire. Here, Claimant would have had to travel a distance of only twenty-five miles, and Claimant did not attempt commuting to the new assignment, not even once, before refusing Employer’s offer. Thus, Claimant has failed to establish a necessitous and compelling reason for terminating employment.
