What is abandonment of employment?
I have a staff member who hasn’t shown up for work for 2 days and isn’t’ contactable on their mobile.
Surprisingly this can happen more often than you think and is commonly referred to as ‘Abandonment of Employment’. So what does it mean and what do you need to do if I you are in this situation with an employee.
Abandonment of Employment is when an employee fails to turn up for work, does not advise the business of any leave and is not contactable to respond to any questions regarding their absence. Whilst this can put the business in a sticky situation it is important to remember that a process still needs to occur to determine if this in fact is an abandonment of employment situation or a communication breakdown between the business and the employee.
Employees can often fail to advise the business if they are unwell or have been called to an emergency situation. However it must also be noted that their inability to communicate their actions can lead to potential termination of their employment. As a business owner or manager there is some simple steps you can take to ensure you have done the right thing by your employee and provided them an opportunity to respond and provide reasons why they were absent from work. One phone call is not enough, you need to show a course of action where the employee is made aware of their absence from work and that it can ultimately result in them terminating their employment.
Whilst there is no direct policy or process around this situation it is important to be able to show where you have attempted to make contact with the employee and obtain further clarification prior to their employment being terminated. Below is a guide on how to deal with this situation however prior to making any conclusion I would recommend contacting Watts Next to assist with the situation. There have certainly been cases where a business has terminated an employee’s employment based on abandonment only to be faced with legal action claiming unfair dismissal.
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Contact the absent employee by telephone, leave a message with specific details and how they are to respond to this message (these details should be how and when they are to contact you i.e. within 24 hours by telephone). After the telephone call has been made, make a note in their employee file of your attempt to contact them. It is recommended that you call at least three times over a period of a week and utilise all of the information available to you. This may also mean contacting their emergency contact person.
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If no response is received a warning letter outlining their absence and how they are to respond and the potential consequences of no response should be sent. Any correspondence of this type should be sent via courier or registered mail to ensure it is received by the person in question.
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If there is still no response a final letter confirming their abandonment of employment can be sent to the employee.
During this time the employee may make contact to respond to any queries or reasons why they have been absent from work. Therefore the business needs to act appropriately and revisit their course of action. Remember termination based on abandonment of employment is driven by the employee not the employer. This is by no means a black and white process, therefore every situation needs to be assessed at the time based on its merits.
Watts Next?
It is recommended that you review your leave policy and include a process in place on how you would deal with a situation where an employee fails to make contact with the business for an extended period of time.
DISCLAIMER: This article does not constitute legal advice. If you require assistance with creating policies for your workplace, please email admin@wattsnext.com.au
DISCLAIMER: This article does not constitute legal advice. If you require assistance with creating policies for your workplace, please email admin@wattsnext.com.au
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