*538 OPINION
Rеlator Mary Holbrook challenges a determination by the Department of Jobs and Training that she voluntarily quit, without good cause, her job with respondent Minnesota Museum of Art. We reverse.
FACTS
The Minnesota Museum of Art hired Mary Holbrook in October 1981 to work 15 hours per week as a curatorial assistant. At the time she was hired, Holbroоk held a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota 1 and had finished the necessary class work for a Masters degree in the classics area. She had a background in research and library work.
During Holbrook’s first few years at the museum, she performed primarily clerical work, although when she was hired she was assurеd that research would be an important part of her job. In November 1983 she wrote a letter to her supervisor complaining about her duties and requesting additiоnal responsibilities involving research, collection, cataloging and teaching.
Holbrook was subsequently promoted to the position of assistant curаtor and her hours were eventually increased from 15 to 27.5 hours per week. Her responsibilities also increased and, by 1985, the bulk of her time was spent on research and documentation. Holbrook spent approximately one-third of her time performing secretarial or clerical work; however, the curatorial department had no support staff and all employees in that department — even the head curator — performed some clerical dutiеs.
In the summer of 1985 Holbrook learned that, due to funding limitations, her position as assistant curator would be eliminated and she would be reassigned to two half-time positions in other departments. The positions were primarily clerical in nature, but Holbrook was informed that if she accepted them, a review would be held in three months, at which time the positions might be upgraded. Holbrook refused to accept the reassignment and left the museum when her assistant curator position endеd. Her claim for unemployment compensation benefits was denied on the basis that she did not have good cause to decline the clerical pоsitions.
ISSUE
Did Holbrook have good cause to refuse the two clerical positions when her position as assistant curator was eliminated?
ANALYSIS
Minn.Stat. § 268.09, subd. 1(1) (1986), states that an individual is disqualified from receiving unemployment compensation benefits for quitting a job “voluntarily and without good cause attributable to the employer.” The Commissiоner’s representative determined that Holbrook did not have good cause to turn down the two half-time clerical positions and was therefore disqualifiеd from receiving unemployment compensation benefits.
When, as here, the relevant facts are undisputed, the question of whether an employee hаd good cause to quit is one of law, to be independently determined by this court.
Forsberg v. Depth of Field/Fabrics,
The proper test for “good cause attributable to the employer” is whether the employee’s reason for quitting was compelling, real and not imaginary, substantial and not trifling, reasonable and not whimsical and capricious.
Kratochwill v. Los Primos,
The Commissioner’s representative cited several reasоns for believing that Holbrook did not have good cause to reject the two clerical positions. First, he noted that Hol-brook would have continued to receive the same hourly wage she had been receiving as assistant curator. In fact, the increase from her 27V2-hour-per-week position as assistant curator to 40 hours per week from both half-time clerical positions would have actually resulted in an increase in Holbrook’s weekly pay. In addition, she would have received more benefits by ■ working 40 hours per week.
The fact that Holbrook would not have received a reduction in pay by accepting the clerical positions is not determinative. In
Marty v. Digital Equipment Corporation,
We have reсognized that a claimant has a right to reject, without loss of benefits, a job which requires substantially less skill than she possesses.
Id. at 775.
Holbrook had advanced to a position requiring only limited clerical work. The half-time clerical positions would have involved less responsibility and there was evidence that the pay scales for those positions were lower than the pay scale for her assistant curator position.
The Commissioner’s representative relied on
Simonson v. Thin Film Technology Corporation,
The Commissioner’s representative also concluded that Holbrook did not have good cause to quit because the two half-time positions were not totally clerical:
Some of the duties were: mаintaining the art work in the “kid space,” assisting in the supervising of “kid space” interns; and serving as “an information resource person for the community, answering inquiries on all аctivities of the Museum, particularly those sponsored by the Museum school”; performing other duties as may be assigned.
The Commissioner also found that everyonе in the curatorial department did some clerical work, and job descriptions were not totally accurate. Nevertheless, the representativе specifically found that the two half-time positions were “primarily” clerical in nature. In view of this finding, the proposed reassignment constituted good cause for Holbrook to quit.
The Commissioner’s representative relied heavily on the “possibility” that the two clerical positions might have been upgraded in three mоnths and concluded that Hol-brook’s separation was premature. While we have held that an employer should be given an opportunity to correсt unfavorable working conditions,
see, e.g., McLane v.
*540
Casa de Esperanza,
Finally, the Commissioner’s representative determined that Holbrook did not have good cause to turn down the clerical positions because the museum’s offer was not unreasonable or unfair. This considerаtion is not relevant to eligibility for unemployment compensation.
Helmin,
DECISION
The Commissioner’s representative erroneously concluded that Holbrook did not have good cause to quit.
Reversed.
Notes
. The parties dispute whether Holbrook's degree vías in Latin or the classics.