Unemployment if you quit or were fired in Massachusetts
The state's rules for quitting and for being fired are different. This page gives the state's own words.
All about unemployment in Massachusetts
Checked against official sources: October 31, 2026.
Quit, fired or refused work
If you quit
If you quit, you are disqualified unless you show, with substantial and credible evidence, that you had good cause for leaving connected to your employer, or that your reasons were so urgent, compelling and necessitous that leaving was involuntary.
Examples the state names:
- Leaving because of sexual, racial or other unreasonable harassment that your employer knew or should have known about
- Leaving because of domestic violence, including fear for your safety at or on the way to work or the need to move to avoid it
- Leaving in good faith for a new permanent full-time job, then losing that job for good cause connected to the new employer
- Leaving under a pension or retirement plan that requires retirement
If you were fired
Being fired does not by itself stop benefits. You are disqualified only if DUA finds, by substantial and credible evidence, that you were fired for deliberate misconduct in wilful disregard of your employer's interest, or for knowingly breaking a reasonable rule the employer enforces uniformly (not because of incompetence). A firing because of domestic violence does not disqualify you.
If benefits are denied for the separation
If you are disqualified for quitting or misconduct, you cannot get benefits until you have worked at least 8 weeks and earned at least 8 times your weekly benefit amount.
Refusing work
Refusing suitable work without good cause stops benefits for that week and the next 7 weeks, and DUA can cut up to 8 weeks from your claim.
Law: M.G.L. c. 151A, sec. 25(c), (e)
Official source: Source page
You usually must be unemployed through no fault of your own. In most states this means you lost your job because there was not enough work.
Able, available and looking for work
Job contacts per week: 3
You must do at least 3 work search activities each week and report them when you file your weekly claim. If you do not, you will not be eligible for benefits that week. Activities include applying for jobs (for example through MassHire JobQuest), visiting employers, interviews, job fairs and MassHire Career Center workshops, and registering with employment agencies. You must also take part in the RESEA re-employment program if DUA tells you to.
Records to keep
Keep a written record of each activity (what you did and when) in case DUA asks to check it.
Law: M.G.L. c. 151A, sec. 24(b)
Official source: Source page
To be paid for a week, you must be able to work, available to work and actively seeking work.
Law: 42 U.S.C. 503(a)(12)
Noncitizens
What the state says
If you are not a U.S. citizen, have papers that show you are authorized to work in the U.S. when you apply.
Common reasons for a denial and what federal law says →
Free help
Call 1-877-626-6800. Legal aid and other free help in Massachusetts → Official sources →
More questions about unemployment in Massachusetts
Can I get unemployment in Massachusetts if I quit?
If you quit, you are disqualified unless you show, with substantial and credible evidence, that you had good cause for leaving connected to your employer, or that your reasons were so urgent, compelling and necessitous that leaving was involuntary.
Can I get unemployment in Massachusetts if I was fired?
Being fired does not by itself stop benefits. You are disqualified only if DUA finds, by substantial and credible evidence, that you were fired for deliberate misconduct in wilful disregard of your employer's interest, or for knowingly breaking a reasonable rule the employer enforces uniformly (not because of incompetence).