Lester v. Department of Employment Security
Appellate Court of Illinois
819 N.E.2d 1143 (2004)
- Written by Sara Rhee, JD
Facts
Susan Lester (plaintiff) worked as a diverting coordinator for Purity Supermarketing, Inc. (Purity) for over seven years. In May 2001, Lester’s employment was terminated due to financial reasons. Prior to her termination, Lester had been working 35 hours per week at an annual salary of $70,200, and had been receiving benefits and quarterly bonuses. In July 2001, Purity offered Lester a position similar to her old position. The annual salary for the new position was also $70,200, and included comparable benefits and two bonuses per year. The new position required 40 hours of work per week and was located about 30 minutes farther away than Lester’s old office. Although Lester was competent to perform the duties of the new position, she refused the job offer because she was dissatisfied with the salary, workload, longer commute, and number of bonuses. Lester subsequently sought unemployment benefits with the Illinois Department of Employment Security (Department) (defendant). The Department denied Lester benefits based on a finding that she had refused, without good cause, to accept suitable work. The Board of Review and the circuit court affirmed. Lester appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (South, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 804,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
