Job Abandonment??/ADA
System
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We have an employee who misses work and does not call in to notify her supervisor. When her supervisor asked her what the problem was she said she had chronic fatigue syndrom and fibro myolgia. Her supervisor asked for her to provide a note from her doctor saying she had these two conditions. She did not provide him this information. She has not shown up for work in the last two days. She has not called in. Is this job abandonment? or do we have to consider her medical condition (that she has not proved to us).
Thanks
Thanks
Comments
I disagree with Don to some extent.
Don't remove the supervisor from this process. It is the supervisor who needs to be involved. It is the supervisor who needs to set expectations and deadlines and make decisions (with line managment and HR) on the status of the employee. The supervisor is the gatekeeper. You take the supervisor out of the process and you basically have emasculated the supervisor in being able to control employees because it will be seen as HR making decisions not the supervisor.
What HR should do is work with the supervisor.
The employee needs to be sent a letter informing her of what is expected and when it is due. The supervisor, not HR, needs to inform her that her absence as of x day is uunauthorized and without pay. She either tells the employee to return to work by such a date or provide acceptable doctor's statement verifying an inability to perform duties of the job by that date. She should note that she had asked for a doctor's note but hasn't received it yet. Thus the letter is a formal instruction to her to return to work or provide acceptable doctor's statement. If neither occurs, then she will be fired. If has has a quesiton or problem with instructions then she is to contact the uspervisor by x date.
The previous conversations should be referenced, especially about providing the doctor's note (this shows that the letter really isn't the first itme she has been asked for the statement). How has the superivsor been coding the absence for the past few days? If without pay (unauthorized) tell the employee that. If with pay (authorized on sick leave) tell the emplyee that ends pending receipt of verification by the deadline.
You need chain of command involved, which I assume does not involve HR for this employee because it's the line superviosr and the line manager who probably are going to decide what to do based in part, yes, on HR recommendation. But it's line management and supervision who have to set and enforce expectations and enforce company policies on the employee. You need them involved not only because of this time but because of future incidents with other employees. The supervisor needs to know what to do and how to do it. That's a part of supervision.
FMLA and/or ADA may be involved at this piont or they may not be. You won't know until you get some medical information.
>appropriate? Or does it have to be a letter?
A phone call following the letter might be a warm touch; however, the letter should be certified so that you have a record for production and so that you won't have to recall later what she was told and when. You will never regret having it certified as proof she received it....down the road.
One thing you might consider doing is in your FMLA notice letter to send the employee the Labor Dept Certification form for them to have their doctor complete and return. (Don't say get me a doctors note). Give them the 20 day time frame for retuning it.
I also cover a lot of other things in my letter besides FMLA. I discuss who they should call in to (which is usually the Supv. May have to train the supv. as to what they can ask and what information they should get when the employee calls in.)Explain consequences as to what happens if they don't follow the company's policy (and FMLA requirement) (which we call self termination than firing.) Let them know who they should call if they have questions (which is usually HR)on any subject in the letter. Will they receive any pay while out? Do you have a disability or sick pay program? What happens to their benefits? How much do they need to pay to continue them and who should it be mailed to and made out to?
Looks as if you have several issues, your company's attendance policy, sick pay/disability program, absence call in policy, FMLA, etc. You need to sort them all out and address each, making sure that they don't infringe on the FMLA. Don't use this as a way to get rid of an employee. That will hang you.
Also, if your employee has been out before and done this and no one called it to his attention, your employee may think they are doing the right thing.
E Wart, GA