Opinion
No. 508598.
August 5, 2010.
Appeal from a decision of the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board, filed March 18, 2009, which ruled that claimant was ineligible to receive additional unemployment insurance benefits pursuant to Labor Law § 599.
Janet M. Gleason-Rose, Syracuse, appellant pro se.
Andrew M. Cuomo, Attorney General, New York City (Dawn A. Foshee of counsel), for respondent.
Before: Spain, J.P, Lahtinen, Kavanagh, McCarthy and Egan Jr., JJ.
After being laid off from her position as an executive secretary, claimant enrolled in a two-year program for professional communication and applied for career and related training benefits under Labor Law § 599. After various proceedings, the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board disapproved her application and claimant appeals.
We affirm. To be eligible for benefits pursuant to Labor Law § 599, a claimant must be enrolled in a program "clearly leading to the qualifications or skills for a specific occupation" ( 12 NYCRR 482.2 [b]). Here, claimant originally sought training to acquire a position in the field of marketing, but subsequently changed her focus and informed the Department of Labor that she would be seeking a position involving advocacy for either children or the elderly. Inasmuch as advocacy for these groups constitutes distinct fields, substantial evidence exists for the de-termination that claimant's program did not lead to a specific occupational goal and, therefore, the Board's denial of her application was proper ( see Matter of Vasquez [Commissioner of Labor], 42 AD3d 622, 623; Matter of Schroder [Commissioner of Labor], 38 AD3d 1142, 1143).
Ordered that the decision is affirmed, without costs.