After the New York State Department of Health’s Office of Professional Medical Conduct (OPMC) or Office of Professional (OPD) conducts an investigation and holds a hearing for you, they may decide to strip you of your medical license. Whether temporarily or permanently, you may be out of work for the foreseeable future and therefore miss out on the regular paycheck you solely and seriously depend on to make ends meet. In a scenario like this, you may wonder whether you qualify for unemployment in New York State. For this, please read on to discover whether you can apply for unemployment insurance after losing your medical license and how a seasoned OPMC/OPD misconduct defense lawyer at Walker Medical Law can help you forge the path of least resistance.
Can I apply for unemployment insurance if I lose my medical license?
Unfortunately, no, it is generally unlikely that you would be eligible to apply for unemployment insurance in New York State if you lose your medical license. This may be especially true if you lose your license after being found guilty of medical misconduct due to a serious ethical violation or criminal activity by the OPMC or OPD. Or, what’s worse, a gross misconduct offense.
The reason behind this is that, with a medical license suspension or revocation, you may no longer perform the work required for your previous job. Therefore, there is no way that you can actively seek employment in the medical field while collecting unemployment benefits. And, in essence, unemployment benefits are intended to be temporary financial assistance for eligible workers who are unemployed due to no fault of their own.
In the end, if you believe the New York State Department of Health wrongfully categorized your situation as medical misconduct or gross misconduct, you may be able to appeal the denial of initial unemployment benefits application.
What are other circumstances that may disqualify me from unemployment insurance?
Besides being found guilty of medical misconduct or gross misconduct, there are a couple of other reasons why you may be ineligible to apply for unemployment insurance in New York State. For one, the Department of Labor may find that you voluntarily left your job post as a practicing medical professional. The only exception is if you can sufficiently prove that you left with good cause attributable to the work (i.e., you wanted to avoid committing illegal or immoral acts that were encouraged in your workplace).
Secondly, the Department of Labor may discover that you failed to apply for or accept available and suitable work. To dispute this, you must demonstrate that there was not a legitimate bona fide offer of work or referral to work in the first place. Or, you may argue that you were not suitable for this available or offered work given your prior training experience, your physical health, your concerns with its safety and morals, etc.
We advise you to reach out to a competent OPMC/OPD misconduct defense lawyer sooner rather than later. We are confident that you will not regret retaining the services of our team at Walker Medical Law.