Written by a parent, not a doctor. Nothing here is medical advice.

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New Hampshire program

Unemployment after a work change to care for your child

New Hampshire can allow unemployment after leaving work for a child’s illness, but you must remain available for work.

What it is

New Hampshire can allow unemployment after leaving work for a child’s illness, but you must remain available for work.

Unemployment is money for people who lost work and can take a new job. If you are laid off, you can usually claim. If you quit to care for your child under 18, New Hampshire can still pay, as long as the care needed lasts longer than the leave your employer would give. Each week you claim you still have to be able to take a job, which is hard during intensive treatment.

Eligibility rules
  • The child must be under 18 for the immediate-family definition used by this exception. It also includes a spouse or parent.
  • NH Employment Security looks at the care your child needs, what leave or schedule change you asked for, and what your employer said.
  • The agency decides whether you can accept and perform suitable work.
What you get
  • Weekly benefits for an allowed claim, at the amount and for the weeks NH Employment Security determines.
  • Partial benefits when work hours drop, subject to the agency’s calculation.
What the protection includes
  • Part-time earnings equal to 30% of the weekly benefit amount are disregarded in the calculation.
If you decide to apply
  1. Ask New Hampshire Employment Security about a claim and explain the reason for the work change in writing.
  2. Have your leave request, the employer’s response, recent pay records and the team’s letter about care needs ready.

NH Employment Security · official individuals and unemployment-claim information. The social worker can help identify the current claim route and the office that handles your work situation. · Official page ↗

After you ask
  • Employment Security decides whether the claim is allowed and sets the weekly amount.
Good to know

Even when New Hampshire accepts why you left, it pays only for weeks you could take a job. Full-time bedside care usually rules a week out.

Other details
  • Quitting for a close family member's illness can be accepted in New Hampshire, but the office decides each case. Your social worker can help you gather the medical letter, your leave requests and your employer's answers. Resigning before checking the consequences can cost you the job and the health plan.
  • If your employer cuts your hours, earnings up to 30% of your weekly amount are ignored and the rest comes off. The office sets your weekly amount and confirms the current cap, the weeks and what to report. Leave pay has to be reported. Fewer hours alone do not make a week payable.
Official sources
Ask your social worker

“If my work changes because of my child's treatment, would unemployment pay me if my leave runs out, and what would I need to show? Does this fit us, and can you help me plan it?”

Why I’m asking: I want to understand how caring for my child fits the rules about leaving a job and remaining available for work.

More background and detailed requirements
Additional program information and published rules

Who does what

The three parts, side by side. The agency decides; nobody on this page does.

You

Ask for leave in writing first, keep the answer, and give the child's illness as the reason on the claim.

Your social worker

The oncology team can confirm in writing how much care the child needs and for how long.

The care team

A letter saying the child needs care by another person, and for roughly how long.

Who decides
New Hampshire Employment Security.
Ask HR
“Before I resign, can you confirm in writing how much leave the company will grant? My child needs care for longer than that.”

How to apply

First step: Ask the employer in writing for leave and keep the reply, before you resign.

  1. Before resigning, ask the employer in writing for leave and keep the answer.
  2. If the employer refuses or offers less leave than the child needs, that refusal is the evidence for the exception.
  3. File the claim and give the reason as the child's illness.

Official application / program page ↗

Where it starts: File a claim and give the reason for the leaving in writing. The agency's own pages were unreachable during the research.

What to gather

  • The written request for leave and the employer's reply
  • A letter from the team on how much care the child needs
  • Recent pay records

How long: Up to 26 weeks of payments once a claim is allowed.

What a yes looks like

A determination allowing the claim with a weekly amount.

What a no looks like, and the next move

A no on availability for work, or because the child is 18 or over. Ask what evidence would change it.

Watch out

  • Ask for leave in writing first: the exception turns on the employer granting less leave than the child needs.
  • The agency's definition of immediate family is a minor child under 18.
  • You still have to be ready and able to accept work, so full-time bedside care does not fit.

If they say no, quote this: Family illness exception: RSA 282-A:32, I(a)(6) and Emp 503.10(f).

The numbers and the rules

The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 11, 2026.

What it is worth

Up to $427 a week for 26 weeks, with 30 percent of the weekly amount disregarded when part-time pay comes in. A leaving caused by a family member's illness is not automatically disqualifying.

  • $427/week — Maximum weekly benefit
  • $32/week — Minimum weekly benefit
  • $26 — Weeks payable
  • $30/week — Share of the weekly amount disregarded against part-time earnings

Legal protection: Leaving employment due to the illness or disability of an immediate family member is excepted from the quit disqualification · Partial benefits where hours drop rather than stop

What it costs the family: None.

The eligibility facts, as published

Quit exception
leaving due to the illness or disability of a member of the individual's immediate family
Illness test
the illness has to need care by another person for longer than the employer was willing to grant leave
Immediate family
spouse, parent and minor child under the age of 18
Availability
ready, willing and able to accept and perform suitable work

The trap: Two traps. The agency's definition of immediate family is a minor child under 18, so do not assume it covers an older teenager. And you still have to be ready, willing and able to accept work: a parent at the bedside full time is not.

Where I read this

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