By Clarence Cromwell
After resigning from her $71,076-a-year job, Monte Sereno's former city manager, Carolyn Lehr, filed a long-distance request for unemployment benefits.
Despite quitting, Lehr will probably get the benefits, city officials said, and the money will come directly from city coffers.
The City Council adjusted the budget Jan. 7 to allow as much as $5,980 in unemployment payments for Lehr, now a New Jersey resident. When current City Manager Gay Strand calculated the expenditure, she figured that Lehr would qualify for the maximum $230-per-week benefit, if awarded compensation by California's Employment Development Department.
Lehr resigned after her husband accepted a job for the Princeton, N.J., pharmaceutical firm Bristol-Myers Squibb.
Upon leaving the city, Lehr said she planned to enroll in postgraduate classes at Rutgers University and look for a management job.
She filed the request for unemployment compensation from New Jersey Sept. 22. California's Employment Development Department mailed the city a letter dated Oct. 7 stating that Monte Sereno must pay for any unemployment benefits awarded.
Strand said she was surprised when the department explained that Lehr may qualify for unemployment benefits because she left the job to follow her husband's career.
An employee can collect unemployment benefits if the state believes the employee had no choice but to leave the job, explained Ron Corbal, a manager at the department's San Jose office. In the case of workers who resign when a spouse accepts out-of-state work, the state might pay unemployment if the new job is far enough away to prohibit commuting; applicants also have to meet other criteria, such as earning more than a certain level of income, Corbal said.
Strand said she didn't expect an unemployment claim, since her predecessor resigned; she thought unemployment was only for victims of layoffs or firings.
"I was astounded when I found that out," Strand said. City Council members said they were blindsided by the claim as well.
"There's not a thing we can do about it. My first reaction was 'Don't you cut a check, ' " Mayor Jack Lucas said. "Hopefully, she will become employed rapidly."
The city has no say in whether Lehr will receive the payments, Strand said. If the Employment Development Department decides to award the money, it will pay Lehr and send a bill to the city.
If the state decides to pay Lehr, Monte Sereno must repay the entire claim because the city lacks unemployment insurance. Unlike private firms, public agencies aren't legally bound to carry unemployment insurance. And with so few employees, there's not enough risk to the city to justify insurance payments, Strand said.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, January 15, 1997.
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