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Disappearing act: Has your employee abandoned you?

The ‘no-show’ is not a free ticket to employment termination
February 6, 2025
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QUICK SUMMARY: Job abandonment occurs when an employee fails to return to the job and has not notified the employer of their status. But because job abandonment has no legal definition, it should be defined in the practice's attendance policy. Employers must try to contact the absent employee and document those attempts because some situations may legally protect employees or prevent them from following practice policy.

Employees miss work for myriad reasons, but what happens when an employee is a no-show and has not communicated their absence to the employer? There are no telephone calls, emails or texts — the employee has made no contact of any kind with the employer. While this can be a frustrating situation, it is not a “free ticket” to terminating the employee.

Job abandonment occurs when an employee fails to return to the job and has not notified the employer of their status. But because job abandonment has no legal definition, it is best if job abandonment is defined in a practice attendance policy. Neither California nor federal law regulates the amount of time an employer must hold a job open for an employee who neither appears for work nor calls in to explain their absence.

“As the employer, your actions are controlled only by your practice’s policy,” says Michelle Coker, employment practices analyst with CDA.

Ideally, every employer has an employee manual that contains clear attendance and communication policy expectations. And ideally, employees will have acknowledged these expectations with their signature and agreed to follow them when the need to be absent from work arises.

Employers should have a policy that clearly states the consequences of no-call, no-show behavior by defining how many days of absence will be considered job abandonment.

In California, three no-call, no-show days are commonly considered job abandonment. But whatever the number of days established by practice policy, the employer has a responsibility to try to make contact with the absent employee and to document all those attempts because some situations, described below, may prevent employees from following practice policy.

Why do employees abandon their jobs — and is it abandonment?

Although employees do sometimes abandon their jobs for various reasons, employees may not be aware of the employer’s absenteeism policy and may not fully realize how their absence from work will affect their employer.

“Give your employee the benefit of the doubt,” Coker says.

Occasionally, but importantly, medical situations, incarceration, wildfires and other natural disasters and situations of personal crisis can prevent an employee from making timely contact.

Prior to terminating employment, employers must consider whether the employee may be protected under the law by, for example, paid sick leave, unsafe workplace conditions, protected family or medical leave (FMLA for employers of 50 or more or CFRA for employers of five or more), school or child care leave or victims leave.

Coker says that although the employee certainly could be disciplined for failure to follow practice policies on attendance and communication, “termination should be a last resort in the above situations.” If an employer is aware of an employee’s illness or a disability or that an employee’s family member is seriously ill, they should make every reasonable effort to reach that employee.

Require employees to sign new, updated attendance policies

As a best practice, employers should indicate in their employee attendance and punctuality policy that exceptions may be made for emergencies and document the expected communication protocols.

A well-defined communication policy includes whom to contact and what methods of contact are acceptable, e.g., emails, texts or telephone calls. Employers should keep up-to-date emergency contact information in the employee’s personnel record and should follow practice attendance, discipline and termination policies consistently. (Members can log in to use CDA’s fillable, printable Employee Emergency Contact Form.) As part of any new policy or handbook update, employees should be required to read and sign to acknowledge the job abandonment policy.

Some absences are protected by law, and the answers are not one size fits all for situations that arise. CDA advises practice owners to seek advice from an employment attorney prior to initiating any employee termination.

CDA’s Sample Employee Manual, other resources can help

CDA has expert advice and  resources to assist members with developing practice policies and managing employees, including a Sample Employee Manual (updated in January 2025), Termination Checklist and Practice Policy Revision: Employee Acknowledgement Template.

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