HR Practice For Payroll Practitioners

HR Practice for Payroll Practitioners

Abandonment of employment

Occasionally, an employee may leave their position without telling the employer. This is commonly known as abandonment of employment. It is another form of termination, but in this case, the employee has terminated their employment by not coming to work and not communicating that they are not coming back. To be able to use abandonment of employment, there would need to be a clause stating that this is an option for the employer. The timeframe is an agreed-upon term and typically will be 3, 5, or 7 days.

Example of this type of clause:

If the employee has not been at work for a period of three consecutive workdays and has not communicated the reason for this absence, it will be deemed as abandonment of employment, and the employer can terminate your employment.

How the timeframe is applied is as follows:

• Employee works Mon to Friday • Was last at work on Friday • The following week, the employee does not turn up to work on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday (no communication) • Employee has a 3-day abandonment of employment clause • The employee could be terminated on the Thursday of that week.

Steps of what the employer needs to do before the employee is terminated in payroll:

1. A clause in the employment agreement 2. Employer tries to make initial contact 3. The employer tries to make follow-up contact 4. No contact from employee 5. The day after the abandonment ends, the employee can be terminated.

© New Zealand Payroll Practitioners Association, Sep 2024, Ver 12

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