How Should We Handle an Employee's Extended Absence Due to Severe Health Issues?

Dear All,

One of our employees has been working with us for the last 10 years and is currently suffering from a heart-related problem. He has been receiving treatment from ESIC for this issue, and his condition is known to everyone. Due to his severe medical condition, he has been absent from the office for the past 2-3 months. His performance was commendable when he was healthy. However, we have not received any written communication from him regarding his illness. Furthermore, the company has been operating without assigning a replacement for him.

I have discussed his attendance status with the C.O.O., who has instructed me to terminate his employment.

Proposed Actions

In light of this situation, I propose the following actions:

1. Issue a warning letter for unauthorized absence, as no written communication regarding his absence has been received.

2. Anticipate that upon receiving the warning letter, he will provide medical documentation supporting his health issues.

3. Once the documents are submitted, the management will determine whether his leave of absence should be extended or discontinued.

4. If he is deemed unfit to continue working, he may be asked to resign, and his Full and Final settlement process will commence accordingly.

5. As a gesture of goodwill, the company may consider offering employment to one of his family members in his place.

Please advise on the best course of action in this scenario. This employee is the sole provider for his family, and some of our staff members are expressing discontent at the prospect of issuing a warning letter for his unauthorized absence. Your prompt and valuable feedback is greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

You have outlined your next course of action, but you have not explained why there was no personal visit to his home. If you didn't visit, why did no one else visit his home to understand the nature of his problem? What efforts were made to determine why he has been unresponsive?

You mentioned that he has been with the organization for the past ten years. Has he been taking the organization for granted? Why was there a delay of 2-3 months before taking action? Typically, an absence of one month would warrant further steps.

Additionally, you noted that his performance was satisfactory. Is this the appropriate way to address an employee with a good performance record? While he is at fault for the lack of communication, as an HR representative, you could have been more proactive in maintaining communication.

In your closing remarks, you mentioned concerns about how other employees might react to disciplinary actions. It's understandable that a sick employee, despite communication issues, may garner sympathy due to health concerns. However, this situation could impact overall staff morale.

It is unclear why these issues were not raised during the meeting with the COO. Why didn't the COO address these points at that time? Is there a lack of willingness to confront difficult issues?

Your reference to the Mouton-Blake grid indicates that your COO is task-oriented (9,1) rather than people-oriented (1,9). Understanding the potential drawbacks of this leadership style requires maturity.

Best regards,

Dinesh V Divekar

I totally agree with the views of Dinesh. You cannot ignore an employee's past to decide a future course of action regarding his conduct if you want to make your actions prudent. It is within your knowledge and that of the company that the employee has put in 10 years of service, and his performance was up to the standards when he was fit. Now your senior COO wants to be blind and terminate his services. It is here that HR shall play his role as a bridge between the employer and the employee and convince the management about a more prudent approach to this problem. As HR, you should visualize the consequences and should have taken precautions like visiting his home, knowing pretty well that he is a heart patient, and obtaining necessary documents/proof of his illness to avoid extreme and injudicious decisions being taken.

Steps to Address the Employee's Situation

Even now, you can do it by following these steps:

1. It is not permissible to terminate an employee when he is undergoing treatment for illness under the ESI Act. You can thus convince your COO that termination is not the solution.

2. Appraise him of the past record of the employee and the probable reprisals from employees in case of his termination.

3. Thereafter, suggest to him to have a discussion with the employee concerned to know about his health condition and his response to your proposal to accommodate his family member on the job.

4. After putting forward your proposal, if the employee wishes to continue in employment, suggest to the COO alternatives like moving him to lighter duties.

5. If the employee agrees to your proposal, the matter ends smoothly.

Regards,
B. Saikumar

Mumbai

A person who has worked for 10 years in a firm would only mean that he did his best. He showed his loyalty by not switching. I think we should be considerate of him. Yes, arguably one can say, how can we bend the rules for someone? Surely not. I don't think any of us want you to do that. However, there are certain special cases to be considered.

Understanding Human Resource Management

As is in the name Human Resource, we manage people (who fall sick, who make errors, who are late, and most importantly, who are different from one another). Only if all the cases should be handled in the same way, the top management would have hired a robot instead of a human HR. I hope you understand what I wish to clear.

Proactive Measures

As is suggested, you could have proactively at least called up to inquire what is wrong with a person who had been regular for so long not showing up all of a sudden. But as is said, there's no use crying over spilled milk; let's focus on what to do. Inquire on your own what the issue is and try to suggest the person submit the documents either through post/courier or via someone. Update your management about his previous records and educate them on his current misfortune. Try to push a little (again only if you are convinced that the case is genuine, which seems to be).

Employment for Family Members

About giving employment to one of the family members, it is a nice suggestion but it depends on the work profile and skill fitment as well. If that is not possible, how do you plan to take the process further?

Regards.

Send a letter to him and ask for the valid reason for his absence from duty. If he sends a reply stating the reason for his illness, then you should analyze the situation. If the reason is a serious illness, discuss with him the option of providing his full and final settlement, as well as offering the opportunity for a family member to take over the service, with a salary not less than what he is currently earning.

Thank you.

Thank you very much for providing such valuable inputs on this issue. I would like to shed some light on this scenario. A specific leave policy is not in place. Therefore, employees proceed on leave without providing anything in writing for the same and resume duties after 1-2 months sometimes. Additionally, even if an employee informs of the reason for availing such a long period of leave, it is not reported to the concerned person/department. This was the reason why details of his absence could not be given to management properly.

I will now follow what you all have suggested to correct the situation. Thank you again for your timely help.