Q: How do I deal with employees who are absent without permission?

A: As an employer you should consider three important points.

Firstly, employees have a contractual obligation to take all reasonable steps to attend work and be absent only if they have prior permission, for example to take holiday, are genuinely sick, or have a statutory right to be absent. Secondly, the employer should act reasonably if the employee fails to attend work, which means considering the case carefully and reacting fairly. And thirdly, both parties should recognise that, if the employee has a problem attending work and this is not the fault of the employer, then both the problem and its solution belongs to the employee.

Even if circumstances are beyond their control (eg. heavy snowfall) it is unreasonable for the employee automatically to expect to avoid any loss or inconvenience.

Reasonableness requires that the employer takes into account the ability of the employee to mitigate the problem and his or her efforts to do so. Each case should be considered on its merits.

The company may choose to pay the employee for the period of unexpected absence, to take it out of unused holiday entitlement, to treat it as unpaid leave, to have the employee make up the lost time, or to impose a disciplinary sanction if the employee had behaved irresponsibly. But the important criteria are to act fairly and reasonably. This will avoid legal difficulties and also maximise good employee relations.

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