Quit?

[tryingtoplease]

An employee takes unpaid time off from work & agrees to return on a certain date, then calls his employer 2 days before his return date to TELL them that Nah, I'll be back 5 days later than expected. The later date is not agreed upon by the employer. If he does not return on the earlier approved date is it considered him resigning? Can he be fired for cause? Just need to know our legal options if he decides he can run our business. Thanks for your input.

 

[xylene]

Is he taking a protected leave (like FMLA or disabilty)?

 

[tryingtoplease]

No. We are a company of 4 people. I run the office, my husband draws up bids & orders inventory & we have 2 guys to do the actual repair/installation work. We've had to rearrange my husband's schedule to work on the repair/installation end. Relying on this employee returning to work on Thursday, I have booked my husband solid for Thurs & Fri going to customers houses to try to book more work for the guys.

 

[eerelations]

You can legally tell this employee that if he doesn't return to work on Thursday (I'm assuming that's the original RTW date), then he has resigned. Once you've told him that (and document it when you do!), if he doesn't show up on Thursday, it will be a legal resignation.

 

[tryingtoplease]

Thank you, ee. The only way I can get ahold of him (or his voice mail because he's not answering) is via cell phone. I guess he figures that if he avoids me, he's ok. How would I document that? Cell phone records? I can send a CRRR to his house but he is not there. Again, thank you for letting me know how I can legally resolve this.

 

[Zigner]

Seems to me that what this employee has done could be considered "Job Abandonment"

However, be careful - OP will claim that he received permission for the extra days.

 

[tryingtoplease]

Thank you, Zigner. That's exactly what I'm trying to avoid, ya know cover our behind. In 18 years of business I've only had to fire one employee & that was after he stole money from us. He still initially got unemployment until the hearing before the ALJ who agreed he was fired for gross misconduct.