FAQ: I was offered a job/my employer said I can return to work, but I don’t feel safe because of the COVID risk. Can I say no and still keep my unemployment benefits?

FAQ: I was offered a job/my employer said I can return to work, but I don’t feel safe because of the COVID risk. Can I say no and still keep my unemployment benefits?

A new Washington law adds some protections for people at high-risk of contracting COVID-19 (or people who live with a person at high-risk) during a public health emergency such as the current one. It allows such workers to decline work based on risk, as long as they are available to tele-work. But it does not allow workers to quit a job based on high risk. The requirement to quit a job on grounds of workplace safety issues is that you must work with the employer on the problems before quitting. Raise your concerns with the employer and ask them to address the problems, then provide a reasonable period of time for problems to be corrected.