Navigating Absenteeism: How Should Companies Legally Handle Abandonment Cases?

Policy on Abandonment of Services

I work in a newspaper establishment and am responsible for framing policies for the company. Recently, I have been working on a policy regarding the abandonment of services and want my company to follow all procedures as per the law when handling absconding cases.

Hence, I wanted to know if, in cases of absenteeism, the company follows the process of sending show cause notices asking the employee to return to work on a specified date or respond to the notices. Is there a clause in the ID Act that states if an employee has completed continuous service of 240 days, the company cannot terminate them solely based on show cause notices unless a domestic inquiry is conducted? If yes, what is the proper procedure for the same?

Thank you.

Regards,

Understanding Employee Abandonment

How can you tell that a person is abandoning the organization? They may have met with an accident, or due to unavoidable circumstances, they might have proceeded on leave to their native place where there is no connectivity to inform about their absence. If they went on leave after approval, they might have overstayed due to a natural calamity or any other event beyond the employee's control. Therefore, without confirming with the individual employee, you cannot conclude that the employee has abandoned their position.

In such a scenario, you must send two notices to their home address (properly registered with acknowledgment due post). In these notices, you should provide a reasonable time for them to resume their duties. If they do not return to work, then you must issue one more notice stating, "It is understood that you are not interested in rejoining duty. Therefore, you are declared as an absconder, and you may collect your final benefits from our accounts department." If the employee still does not report for duty, you cannot conduct a domestic inquiry or any statutory disciplinary action against them unless they are liable to make any payments to the company or have any assets in their possession.

Nowadays, even Supreme Court judgments are favoring employers in cases of long absence and disciplinary matters rather than employees.

Regards