How Can I Rejoin My Job After Being Marked as an Absconder Due to Health Issues?

I am in a situation currently. Due to my health problems, I took leave from the company one month ago without informing anyone. There was no intention of leaving this organization. I faced a serious issue with my manager as he discriminated against me. His behavior pushed me into depression and frustration, significantly impacting my health. I contracted typhoid and was bedridden for 20 days. Now that I have fully recovered, I wish to rejoin the company. However, HR informed me that I have been declared as an absconder. They tried to contact me on my cellphone but couldn't reach me as my other cellphone, which was on roaming, was essentially inactive.

I am being asked to pay the notice period amount to be relieved from my duties. I do not wish to leave the company; I want to return. Admittedly, I made a mistake by not keeping in touch, but the situation at that time made me wary of interacting with anyone in the company.

Please advise me on how to address this situation.

Thank you,
A tense fellow

You can find the answers in your own narration above. Can you really realize that you started messing it up?

First Things First

It never appeared from your points that you are an open communicator; rather, you defend instead of being proactive. You could have saved yourself by following these simple ethics:

- You never approached your boss for a discussion. If you were humiliated by him and didn't want to face him, have you approached a skip level?
- It really doesn't reflect that you've informed your immediate superiors of the reasons for your absence.
- "The other number" was communicated to appropriate people who deserve to know?
- Your last line of the narration summarizes the complete situation... so, no wonder to point out - whose fault it was?!

I don't think you should blame your respective reporting person for your health conditions. Every company listens to their employees, but you must be presentable enough. What I could understand from the above explanation is your performance spoke towards this whole situation.

Please understand, a company/business doesn't run based on assumptions or sentiments. It needs a practical approach and strategy so that your managers can think of alternatives or replacements. Sudden absenteeism affects so much planning and needs revisits to the planning and strategy. This is a bit complicated to explain as it depends on your role and business.

Finally, as per law, your employer has the full right to demand one month notice pay from you to relieve you from the company. However, you may foresee an exception in case you have all supporting medical reports.

One question that still remains: what's the guarantee that you can go along with the same manager if he caused you mental trauma?!

Thank you, sir, for your reply. I have all the medical documents required, and I am ready to give them to my company. But what if they have already transferred me to the bench, so he is not my manager any longer now? Well, I had good performance initially, and I know it was the same manager who presented me with an opportunity to use my skills, but after gaining a new project, he started making sudden decisions. Even the QA team was under fire every day for 1 or 2 hours.

About Re-planning

I was forced to do the same work for 2 weeks because of their so-called optimization and daily changing requirements from the client without increasing the target time for that work. Then, he kept sending me disappointing emails. At that point, I really suspected his managing capability.

That project was a small duration project, but its actual required hours were far greater than the estimated duration. I just want to ask if I can regain my place in my company again. Please tell me the procedure to do so.

Thanks

Approaching Management for Reconsideration

There is no standard approach defined for such situations. It depends on your influence with your management and their reconsideration of your case, subject to their internal approvals. If the management has the same opinion from every corner, it's hard to go back to gain the same opportunity. Only one thing that you should do is approach the correct person, whom you think can pull you out of this situation.

But, honestly, fellow, your reasons are not convincing. I can understand your current mental balance; however, I would suggest you look for another opportunity and make a fresh start to earn the respect that you've ever desired. Good luck!