Has my Employee Abandoned Their Employment?

Unauthorised absences over the holiday season are unfortunately, not uncommon. A frequent question we get is ‘at what point can I conclude the employee has abandoned their employment?’

The first step is to check the Employment Agreement. There is hopefully a clause which states how many days an employee needs to be absent before the employer can reach the conclusion that employment has been abandoned.

This clause in itself is not sufficient. The employer is obliged to make reasonable efforts to contact the employee to find out why they are not at work. The Employment Relations Authority and Employment Court have made it very clear that a single phone call is not sufficient. Our advice is that you phone several times, and also email, text and ultimately send a letter by courier if you don’t get a response. Keep a record of all the attempts made to contact the employee.

The key with reaching a conclusion of ‘abandonment’ is that the employer must have reasonable grounds to conclude the employee has no intention of returning to work. If, for example, on the way out the door to an overseas holiday the employee suddenly said they were going to take a couple of extra weeks leave even if you don’t approve it, that is not abandonment. You would address that as absence without authority through a disciplinary process.

A final note – reaching the conclusion an employee has abandoned their employment is not a dismissal by the employer. Therefore, be careful with the written communication and do not provide a letter terminating the employee’s employment. Instead, it is a letter ‘confirming the conclusion the employer has reached, that the employee has abandoned their employment.’

For guidance through this process please contact one of our Consultants.