Human Resource Blog

Job Abandonment

A pregnant employee is now absent from work for the 4th consecutive day without any notice, call, or any other form of communication. Does this fall under job abandonment which can lead to termination or is it different since she is pregnant? We called her numerous times as well as her emergency contacts and left messages and received nothing. We also noticed that she left her keys in her drawer.

Please help us make sense of this situation. We are located in Florida.

This may be job abandonment, it may be an employee who has quit without notice, or it may be an employee taking FMLA — there is no way to know from the information available.

You are right to be concerned, and our recommendation is that you treat the situation as if the employee had quit without notice. (Especially if she did not routinely leave her keys in her desk at the end of the day.)

However, be aware that under some circumstances you would be obligated to grant FMLA leave to this employee, and to return this employee to her job, once that leave has ended. An employee on intermittent FMLA is required to follow the employers usual call-in procedures in most circumstances. However, there are exceptions for special circumstances. For example, an employee who has a heart attack on the way to work may not be in any condition to call in for several days. Family members may be too distraught to contact the employer, or may simply not know how to reach the employer.

The current FMLA regulations require that an employee be notified in writing of FMLA rights within 5 days of any absence that could be FMLA. Pregnancy is always a serious health condition under FMLA. Our recommendation is that you send this employee FMLA forms by certified mail, return receipt requested. If she returns them completed within 15 days, you may have to grant FMLA. Otherwise, you can treat this situation as if the employee has quit without notice.