A system and method for addressing RLC unrecoverable errors experienced by User Equipment (UE) in a wireless network help the network to resolve the errors without shifting the UE into an Idle mode and dropping voice calls. A measurement event provides the buffer occupancy and identifies the affected radio bearer to the network. If the state of the bearer is not changed, the UE provides a Signaling Connection Release Indication message or a Radio Bearer Release Indication message to the network, the latter message identifying the radio bearer to be released without taking down the entire signaling connection for the domain.