If you believe an employee has abandoned their employment, you should attempt to contact them or a relative or next of kin. When you do this, you should ask for an explanation and inform the employee that you will assume they have abandoned their employment if they do not respond within a specified timeframe.
If you cannot contact the employee directly, the next step you should take is to send them an abandonment of employment letter like the one below.
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[insert date]
[insert name and address of employee] Dear [insert name of employee] RE: Unexplained absence You have now been absent for over three days without our consent and without notification. We are concerned that you may have abandoned your employment. We write to you to ask that you contact us immediately to advise the reason for your absence. If there is no response within 10 days we will deem that you have abandoned your employment and will make the appropriate termination payments. Yours sincerely, |
If the employee fails to respond to the letter and continues to be absent for 14 days, you will be entitled to assume that the employee has abandoned their employment. However, this would be subject to the terms of any relevant industrial instrument or policy that applied to their employment and the circumstances of their absence.
Remember, you should use common sense in an abandonment of employment situation. A court or industrial tribunal is likely to focus on the intention of the employee rather than the period of their unexplained absence.
Regards,
Charles Power
Editor-in-Chief
Employment Law Practical Handbook
