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deal with an employee who returns late from holiday
Employers should ensure that employees know what is expected of them should they be unable to return to work from holiday on time. Karen Teago explains how employers should deal with this situation.
Policy considerations
While not having a specific written policy on failure to return from holiday on time will not preclude an employer from treating it as a disciplinary offence, it is advisable for employers to set out some general policy principles and draw these to the attention of employees at appropriate intervals.
An employer may have a specific policy on unauthorised absence, or the information could be included in a general absence policy, or with information about booking and taking annual leave.
The policy should make clear that returning late from holiday is an unauthorised absence, which could result in disciplinary action. It should state that employees should, wherever possible, make contact with the employer as soon as they are aware that they will be absent beyond the allotted annual leave period and that only in exceptional circumstances will the employer accept that it was not possible to make contact.
The policy should set out what the employer considers to be a reasonable attempt to make contact, for example the employee would be expected to incur personally the expense of an international phone call. Further, it should make clear whether or not email is an acceptable method of contact. For example, it could state that the employee should attempt to make contact by phone, but that notification of absence by email or text is acceptable if this is not possible, and that the employee should follow up an email or text with a phone call as soon as possible.
Attempting to contact the employee
As with other types of unauthorised absence, if an employee fails to return to work after a period of annual leave and has not made contact in advance, the starting point for the employer is to try to contact him or her on the first day of absence.
The employer should try home and mobile telephone numbers and should make notes of all attempts to make contact. In particular, if the employer is calling the mobile telephone...