Job abandonment is when an employee leaves his job or is absent without authorization, has no intention of returning, and does not notify his employer of his intention to quit.
If your employer genuinely thinks that you may have abandoned your job, these are the steps that he/she should take:
1. First Written Communication.
Your employer should send written communication to you (together with making a telephone call), within 24 hours of your unauthorized absence from work, requesting the reason for your absence and an indication of your intention to return to your job.
2. Second Written Communication.
If you haven’t returned to work or responded to the first communication, your employer should send another written communication (together with making another telephone call) on the second day of your absence, requesting the same information as before.
3. Third Written Communication.
If you haven’t returned to work for the 3rd consecutive day or responded to the previous communications, your employer should send a third written communication (and telephone call) indicating that if you fail to report for duty, or fail to provide a reason for your absence together with the expected date of your return, on or before a specified date (maybe within the next 7 days), you will be deemed to have abandoned your job.
This final communication should be delivered to your home address, email address, any other forum you previously used to communicate with the company, such as WhatsApp, and also to your listed emergency contact.
4. Notice of Abandonment / Termination Letter.
If, after the final warning, you still have not returned to work or provided the reason for your absence & your expected return date, then your employer should send the final written communication to you indicating that you have been deemed to have abandoned your job, thereby bringing an end to your employment.
If your employer fails to take these steps, he/she may not be able to claim that you abandoned your job.
It often happens that employers claim that a worker abandoned his job, when, in fact, the worker may have:
been verbally dismissed;
been absent from work due to illness/injury or unforeseen circumstances (for eg. being trapped in a foreign country or being arrested) but still intended to return to work;
taken an unauthorized absence but still intended to return to work; or
been constructively dismissed.
Temporary absence due to illness or injury is not job abandonment (nor is it grounds for dismissal).
Unauthorized absence refers to when you are absent without permission, but you intend to return to work. If you take an unauthorized absence, your employer may be entitled to discipline you, but this is not job abandonment. Likewise, a dismissal or constructive dismissal is also not job abandonment.
Job abandonment is not just being absent from work. For job abandonment to occur you must be absent, without authorization, and you must have an intention not to return. If you intend to return, and especially if you have informed your employer of your intention to return, then your absence may not be considered abandonment.
If your employer claimed that you abandoned your job but you were:
i) verbally dismissed;
ii) dismissed on the basis of abandonment because you were absent, but you had intended to return to work, or
iii) dismissed on the basis of abandonment but your employer failed to take the proper steps,
that dismissal may be unfair and you may be entitled to compensation.
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