Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 16
  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Melbourne
    Posts
    45

    Default Non-Contactable Missing Employee - When does the Duty Of Care end?

    HI All

    today is the second day that an employee has not shown up for work. We have tried to contact her 6 times yesterday via sms and calling, we also contacted her next of kin whom did not seem overly concerned as they are no longer close. He did however try to contact her to no avail - unfortunately he does not know her address either.

    Upon our final attempt to call yesterday the phone was off (possibly battery died) and is the same again today.

    This employee has recently not been herself, and to not sow up for work is completely out of character.

    My question is - Where does our Duty of Care as an organization end? Should myself and the Manager of her team go to her house (its only a 5minute cab ride from work) and try to see if she is ok?

    Additionally her other team members are worried as they have not heard from her.

    I pose this question as recently we had a team member pass away in her sleep and was not found for 2 days upon the return of her partner.

    Any advice on this would be appreciated.

    Regards

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Melbourne, Australia
    Posts
    456

    Default

    You are clearly concerned about this woman's welfare, in which case I would be inclined to call the nearest Police station and see what they say.

    If they say they are not going to do anything then perhaps go around to her house.

    But if the Police are prepared to do that, and let you know what happens, then I would leave it to them.

    That's what I would do, but others may have a different opinion.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Location
    Melbourne
    Posts
    48

    Default

    I agree with Moz.

    In a previous role, we had the Police make a welfare call to absent staff on a number of occasions.

    In at least one it helped prevent a tragic outcome.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Melbourne
    Posts
    45

    Default

    Well it has been decided that we will visit her apartment at lunch today to see if there is a response - if not we will call the police.

    Hopefully a neighbour may even know something if they are at home.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Melbourne
    Posts
    45

    Default

    UPDATE...

    Well she is alive.

    We made a visit to her apartment on Friday afternoon do ensure that everything was ok - we advised the next of kin piror (whom also couldnt get in touch with her). Thankfully someone who lived in the apartment block let us in after we explained the situation.

    We first check her mail which looked like it hadnt been touched in a couple of days. We then went up to her apartment heard the TV on. She was startled to see us there. Now when the door opened there was a strong smell of majiruana coming out. I asked if she was ok - she advised yes. I stated that we had been very worried about her as she had not come into work for the last two days and no one had heard from her... I asked if she would be coming back to work and was told that she would talk to me later and quickly shut the door.

    That was it - she has not come in this morning (monday) and no one has again heard from her...

  6. #6

    Default

    Abandonment of employment.....

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jun 2012
    Posts
    2

    Default

    Yes, sounds like abandonment of employment

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Posts
    196

    Default

    I agree - it looks like abandonment of employment. However, if this employee has a really good track record in her employment with your org and this is the first time there has been any kind of 'event' with her and she returns to work within the next couple days or so, I'd consider going down the disciplinary/warning route.
    If she has an exemplary record, something might have happened to warrant her getting some counselling - do you have an EAP provider? Suggest she sees them - it is confidential.

    She won't be the first to not be close to family and maybe you should ask yourselves how well do you (company) really know this employee.

    One problem with a quick return to work is that if she's been smoking weed, then she will fail a drug test if your company has such a program. Given you smelled it and depending on your drug & alcohol policy and the job she does, you may be forced to test her and, again, depending on your policy, it is not looking good for her ongoing employment.

    I'd give her 48 hrs from when you visited and then send a letter (registered/receipt delivery) to her giving her one more chance to return to work on say, Thursday, and advise in the letter that failure to attend will result in termination of her employment based on abandonment of employment. But start by outlining what you have done so far to make contact/visit etc and also urge her to speak to your EAP provider. This will protect you in the event that later on she decides to go you for unfair dismissal or something.

    I had a not so different scenario couple of years ago and it turned out there was a legitimate underlying reason he dropped out. We were close to terminating on abandonment but we perservered with him - he got counselling and we once again had a productive employee.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Melbourne
    Posts
    45

    Default

    So even though Myself and her manager briefly had contact with her at her apartment on Friday, this can still be viewed as Abandonment of Employment?

    We had, 23 August No Contact, 24 August No Contact, 25 August Conact with her, 27 August No Contact, 28 August No Contact?

  10. #10

    Default

    You couldn't call what you did or the response you got as "contact"......On what you've put on the thread I'd terminate the employment without hesitation.....

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Melbourne, Australia
    Posts
    456

    Default

    If this behaviour is totally out of character then I think you somehow need to find out why she has suddenly "gone off the rails".

    Maybe there has been some traumatic event that has triggered this behaviour.

    Imagine the headline, "Heartless company sacks bereaved employee"

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Melbourne, Australia
    Posts
    10

    Default

    This is getting towards prima facie evidence of abandonment of employment. Remember that many modern awards and sometimes a covering enterprise agreement will have provisions on abandonment and the time frames involved. (for example under the Manufacturing and Associated Industries and Occupations award the time frame is 3 days for prima facie (or initial) evidence of abandonment. However the employer must wait a total of 2 weeks before deeming an employee to have abandoned their employment under that award. It would not be advisable to terminate an employee if they have not met the requisite time frame to deem an abandonment of employment situation.

    You can send an abandonment letter to the employee (a template is available on our website). We recommend it is send by registered post to ensure you know the employee has received it. The employee is currently on an unauthorized absence and could be subject to disciplinary action unless there is a legitimate reason for the absence.

    It is not advisable to personally visit employee's houses. Your duty of care does not extend to visiting employee's houses. The Police can always be called.

  13. #13

    Default

    Doesn't matter what you do to try and cover yourself the employee will still more than likely pursue an unfair dismissal claim. Its just the way the legislation is. The longer you continue to condone the behaviour by not acting to dismiss her it sends a pretty bad message to the remaining employees who are picking up the slack.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Melbourne, Australia
    Posts
    10

    Default

    I don't agree Qld IR consultant.

    There is no reference in 'the legislation' (i presume you mean the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth.)) or even the Fair Work Regulations 2009 (Cth.) to abandonment. Abandonment clauses are in many of the Modern Awards and some Enterprise Agreements (EAs) as well.

    Yes an employee may lodge an unfair dismissal claim yet obviously the claim is less likely to be successful if the employer has followed the time frames of the abandonment clause in the applicable award or enterprise agreement. If an organization was to terminate employment without adhering to those time frames it escalates the likelihood of a successful unfair dismissal claim and is also a potential breach of the award/EA.

    In addition having a record of calling the employee each day and sending an abandonment letter by registered post will again reduce the likely success of an unfair dismissal claim.

    Regards,
    HR Professional
    http://www.hrprofessional.com.au

  15. #15

    Default

    Given the post started in Aug 2012 if the employee is still there then they've taken the employer and HR for a comfortable ride for long enough.....

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
APS4 - APS6 Recruitment Advisors - Canberra CBD
Posted on 28 Mar 2024 at 12:54pm

P&C Advisor - Melbourne
Posted on 28 Mar 2024 at 4:30am

HR Business Partner - ER - Hills District
Posted on 28 Mar 2024 at 2:22am

VPS5 Senior People Partner - Melbourne
Posted on 27 Mar 2024 at 11:21pm

VPS5 Senior TA Partner - Contract - Melbourne
Posted on 27 Mar 2024 at 11:20pm

RD Writer - Contract - Sydney
Posted on 27 Mar 2024 at 11:20pm

VPS4 HR Business Partner - Contract - Melbourne
Posted on 27 Mar 2024 at 11:16pm

Rostering Officer - Contract - Baulkham Hills
Posted on 27 Mar 2024 at 2:52pm

Workplace Relations Advisor - North Sydney
Posted on 27 Mar 2024 at 4:05am

A06 HR Business Partner - Contract - Brisbane
Posted on 26 Mar 2024 at 11:05am

HR Advisor - Perth
Posted on 26 Mar 2024 at 1:50pm

Employee Relations Manager - Sydney
Posted on 26 Mar 2024 at 1:56am

HR Business Partner - Contract - Perth
Posted on 25 Mar 2024 at 8:31am

HR Manager (Part-Time) - Permanent - Footscray
Posted on 25 Mar 2024 at 8:29am

HR Advisor - Sunshine Coast
Posted on 24 Mar 2024 at 9:48pm


 

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v4.2.1