June 21st, 2022.



The term commonly used to describe the situation of an employee not turning up for work with no prior authorisation for the time off is absent without leave, or AWOL. In more legal terms, the employee is classed as being on unauthorised absence which is technically a breach of contract because the employee has broken their contractual requirement to turn up for work.

This is a more common occurrence than people think, particularly in the early days of an employment relationship and can leave an employee with an unforeseen absence and no details on where the employee is, how they are and when or if they may return.

Clearly there can be many reasons for unauthorised absence. An employee may have been on sick leave which was covered by medical certificates and then fails to return to work when the sick note has run out; or fail to return from a period of booked annual leave. Alternatively they may simply not turn up for work as normal one day.


For the full story at smallbusiness.co.uk CLICK HERE.