HARRISBURG, Pa., Sept. 7 (UPI)

A woman who left a job in Pennsylvania to move to Florida with her lesbian partner is seeking unemployment benefits. Joan Procito is taking her case to a Pennsylvania appeals court, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Procito and her lawyers argue that she is entitled to the same treatment as a husband or wife who leaves a job because the spouse has moved. So far, state officials have not agreed.

They denied Procito unemployment compensation on the grounds that she did not have a necessary and compelling reason to quit, because she is not married to her partner. The decision was profoundly unfair and clearly erroneous, Procito’s lawyer, Katie Eyer, said at a hearing Thursday. Procito’s partner, Mary Jo Sheller, moved to Florida last year because her son, who is partly disabled, was about to begin college there.

Procito argues that she had more than one compelling reason to move, that she and Sheller have both emotional and financial ties and that she has a step-mother relationship to Sheller’s son.

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