Employee Took Unapproved Leave During Busy Period: How Should I Handle This Situation?

Dear All,

I am Shekhar Srivastava. In my company, an employee went on leave without proper approval. Before submitting the leave application, the Production Department had explained to him that his leave could not be approved due to the high workload, and he could take it after 25th July. However, he went on a 6-day leave without the proper approval.

Please guide me on the actions I should take.

Regards,

Shekhar Srivastava Senior Executive HR FUSION ELECTRONICS PVT. LTD.

Dear,

You are requested to send him a notice for unauthorized leave via registered post at his present and permanent address.

Hi Shekhar Srivastava,

I am attaching the Constructive Discipline procedure. Please use it. In my opinion, issuing him a notice, memo, or warning letter straight away will not be appropriate. Since you need to manage good talent in a better way, try to understand his problem and follow the Constructive Discipline procedure. It is very tough to get good employees (yours is a Technical/Engineering company); therefore, take corrective measures cautiously. Nowadays, retaining good performers is very challenging.

Best regards, Mahesh K. Prasad

Dear Shekhar,

As rightly suggested by my other friends, you should issue a warning letter to your employee for unauthorized leave. Clearly mention that any future incidents related to this may lead to the termination of the employee.

You can ask the employee to come to your office to sign and acknowledge the letter. Additionally, request a written explanation for their actions. This documentation will serve as proof that you provided proper warning in case termination becomes necessary.

Thank you,

Vineet Saini

Hello Shekar,

I do not know the procedure for applying leave in your company, but generally, when an employee is in need of leave, the first thing we do is to check the reason why he requires that leave. Because, if the leave request is genuine, then he would go for it even if you try stopping him. Please remember the fact that for us, HR professionals, employees are customers, and at the end of the day, we all work towards customer delight! It is important that we be supportive of their problems, and at the same time, if you are convinced that the leave should not have been allowed, you have all the rights to let him know.

I suggest that you issue a warning letter only after analyzing the case history and if it is really necessary. Else, just handle it smoothly through verbal or mail communication, as it is required to ensure that we don’t escalate problems beyond the necessary proposition.

Thanks.

Hi Shekhar,

As per what I can understand, I think the employee has formally approached you for approval of leave. It's quite fair that you expect minimal absenteeism when the workload is high. The answer to your question depends on various factors such as the employee's tenure with the company, performance, commitment, sincerity, behavior, etc. It also depends on the reasons why the leave has been taken. If the employee has taken leave due to unavoidable reasons, you can consider the aforementioned aspects before making a decision. It varies from case to case. However, remember that your decision may send either positive or negative signals to other employees in the company.

Dear Shekhar,

What Mr. Mahesh says is right. You can issue a memo or a warning letter. Before that, identify his productivity and the situation that has arisen for this circumstance.

Regards,
Vino

Hi Shekar,

Since you mentioned that your company is into manufacturing, if you are employing 50 or more employees, you would have received certified Standing Orders for your company. If this is the case, you can follow them step by step.

If this has not been done, you can follow the Model Standing Orders as outlined in the Industrial Establishments (Model Standing Orders) Act and Rules.

It would be beneficial to first train your managerial staff on the law and procedures. Subsequently, you could display a copy of the same for the benefit of your employees and hold a session where you teach them about the requirements of the law, the procedures to be followed, and define the acts of commission/omission that could be deemed as misconduct, along with the procedures to be followed in case of an emergency.

Additionally, it is essential that all your employees understand the importance of each of their functions - how any deviation from the norm can affect the end product and the company's bottom line. This understanding could serve as motivation for all employees to prioritize following procedures over breaking them.

Regards

Dear Shekar,

Please find my suggestion below. First, go through your company policy regarding unauthorized leave. Find out what type of leave he has availed, what's the procedure for granting CL/EL/ML. If he has violated the rule, then take appropriate action, whether it's an oral or written warning or memo. Whatever decision you're taking, give him an opportunity to present his case. Always remember, while taking action, that it should be reformative, not punitive.

Keep a record of the procedures and actions taken. While taking action, you should keep in mind his productivity because your action should not demotivate him.

Please go through Divya Manoj's and Divya Chandana's suggestions too.

Regards,
Pramod

Dear Shekhar,

In your company, what is the policy regarding absence without prior information? If it's applicable to take action in your company for an absence of five days or more, then, as you say, absence for six days, you can take disciplinary action against him. This means issuing a show-cause notice. Review his reply; if it's genuine, meaning he was absent due to a health problem, he should submit a medical certificate or ESI treatment proof. In this case, you can't take any action; just remind him for next time that information is required, otherwise, he will lose the job.

If this is not the case, prepare his documents for termination. However, for this cause, termination is not soundproof. In my suggestion, counseling for such misconduct is the only way.

If the repetition continues, then search for a major fault to terminate him.

Sanjeev Rai

Hello Sekhar,

I think you are the best judge in your situation and surely will take the right decision considering all circumstantial factors, viz.

- Whether the employee is a habitual absentee/takes frequent leave (check his last 1/2 yrs. leave records) or is it a genuine reason for which he has been absent for 6 days needs to be inquired.

- Please check the standing orders of your factory and then proceed to take any disciplinary action against the employee, or else it may backfire upon the HR dept. as a consequence if standing orders are in any way violated.

- Before issuing a letter straight away, the best course of action is to counsel the employee, caution the employee verbally unless, of course, he has already been counseled on similar grounds before; this is probably the best course of action.

- If you are handling a trade Union and the employee in question is a member of that Union, please immediately keep the union secretary or his representative with whom you generally discuss ER issues apprised of the situation so that you can take further disciplinary actions against this employee if required without the risk of any future IR problems.

Please take a comprehensive look at all the possible factors and take your decision appropriately.

With regards,

Probhat

Sekhar,

I would suggest you to go by your company policy. Every organization has a disciplinary policy in place. Then, you must check his past behavior, like attendance record, performance, punctuality, etc. Only then make a decision. Also, consult your senior HR manager to know what action would be appropriate. But before you do that, do put your suggestion forward to the manager, as to what must be done in the case, which shall put an impression on your manager as well that you have studied the case and given your thoughtful suggestion.

Hi, Mr. Shekhar,

First of all, what I have understood is that your manufacturing unit and the employee has gone on leave without approval is a worker. You need to focus on the following:

If the employee falls in the worker category...

If yes, when did he apply for the leave and what was the purpose of the leave? If he was listened to properly and his reason for taking the leave was genuine, meaning the purpose for which he took the leave required his utmost presence.

If yes, then if the production department did not recommend his leave, did he approach the welfare officer or the HR/Personnel department? If he has not contacted the personnel department and proceeded on leave without information, has the personnel department issued him a notice for unauthorized absence from duties, and should he be served a show-cause notice with an explanation required.

If the employee remains absent for more than 8 days and the explanation provided by him is not satisfactory, the factory manager should proceed with the termination of his services. However, please ensure that he was listened to properly and the reason for the leave was not genuine or does not justify his absence.

Furthermore, if the said employee is in the staff category, the above steps apply to him as well. But you must understand that such actions, on one hand, can set an example of discipline, but on the other hand, can lower motivation levels. Therefore, it is necessary that the genuineness of the case is thoroughly considered.

Also, keep in mind the attitude of the employee when he proceeded on leave without approval. If he showed adamancy, strict action should be taken to set an example for others. However, if it was genuinely urgent, a warning letter not to repeat such actions is more than enough.

Also, check the approach of his immediate senior to ensure such occurrences are not repeated.

Dear Shekar,

Based on all the above opinions, I just want to say that personally you should speak to that employee, try to find out why he has taken a long leave. If his answer is satisfactory or if he has done this mistake for the first time, then you can take an apology letter from him and should warn him. You should also mention that if the above mistake occurs again, serious action will be taken against him.

Regards,
Kavita

Dear,

When the leave applied for is refused, one cannot abstain from duty. I have attached excerpts of our company's certified standing order. See the procedure for taking leave and also note clause 36 of "Misconduct" as per our standing order.

Probably, you might have one such standing order. You can issue a memo quoting the clause.

V. Balaji

Hi there,

Okay, I agree with what the others have to say. In addition to that, you should also consider the procedures (disciplinary) set in your organization. Then, consider the reason he had to take the days off, which will enable you to decide on the right procedure to take. This could be a warning letter. However, if he is used to taking days off like this, treat the days as absences and deduct from his salary. Make sure you talk to this member of staff to understand his reasons for being absent; sometimes, a verbal warning might be sufficient.

Regards,