Absent without leave (AWOL) procedure

Introduction

This document sets out the process for managing employees who are absent from work without authorised leave. As a Company, we want to make sure all employees are managed fairly and that a consistent approach is applied to unauthorised absence.

However, the Company recognises that there can be many reasons for absence; including unauthorised
absence. Care must be taken to consider all relevant factors when deciding how best to proceed in each
case and to ensure that the Company discharges its duty of care towards its employees, considering the
facts to hand.

This procedure applies to all employees within the Company. This does not form part of any contract of
employment and the Company reserves the right to amend this at any time.

Scope of this procedure

This procedure will apply where:

• An employee does not attend for work and does not provide a reason for their absence;
• An employee fails to follow the sickness absence reporting procedures, or, if applicable fails to
  provide necessary evidence of the reason for their sickness absence;
• An employee fails to return from pre-booked holiday on the date agreed;
  n employee fails to return from maternity/paternity/shared parental leave on the date agreed;
• Any other reason where an employee is absent without authority.

Should any of the above apply, this could constitute gross misconduct under the Company’s disciplinary
policy and procedure, as well as being a breach of contract and the appropriate disciplinary action will
be taken.

The procedure

Where it appears that an employee may be absent without leave, managers should follow the process
below:

Day 1	The individual’s manager should try to contact them by telephone as soon as it becomes apparent they have not attended for work. Notes of any calls made to the individual should be kept on their personnel file, even if these attempts at making contact are unsuccessful. If direct attempts to contact the individual are unsuccessful, where possible the manager should try to contact their next of kin/emergency contact as recorded on their personnel file to see if they know of the employee’s whereabouts and if they know of any reason why they have not attended for work. Notes of any calls made to the employee’s emergency contact should be kept on the personnel file, even if these attempts at making contact are unsuccessful. NB The manager should be considering at this point the date they need to contact payroll to ensure the individual’s pay is suspended.
Day 2	If it was not possible to locate the individual on day 1, their manager should make a further attempt to contact them by telephone, keeping a record. If it is not possible to make contact with the individual by telephone, a letter should be sent to the employee (See AWOL Letter 1a in the letter pack. Use Letter 1b if the individual has failed to return after a period of sickness absence and Letter 1c if they have failed to return after a period of maternity leave). Two copies of this should be sent to the employee’s home address: one by ordinary first class post and one by recorded delivery.
Day 3	By this day, the individual should have received the letter and had sufficient opportunity to respond. However, if this is not the case, the manager should try and make contact with them by telephone to check the letter has been received (they should also be able to check recorded delivery records). If the individual is still uncontactable, the manager should send a further letter to them (See AWOL Letter 2 in the letter pack). Two copies of this should be sent to the individual’s home address: one by ordinary first class post and one by recorded delivery. NB If the individual has failed to return from a long period of sickness or maternity leave, their manager should consider reissuing AWOL Letter 1 before sending AWOL letter 2 depending on the circumstances.
Date of disciplinary hearing (1)	If the individual does not attend the disciplinary hearing, the manager should send a further letter to them (See AWOL Letter 3 in the letter pack), asking the individual to attend a rearranged disciplinary hearing. Two copies of this should be sent to their home address: one by ordinary first class post and one by recorded delivery. Unless a good reason has been given for non-attendance at the first hearing, the additional allegation of ‘wilful refusal of a reasonable management instruction’ should be added.
Date of disciplinary hearing (2)	Following the rearranged hearing: If the individual does attend but the decision is made to dismiss the employee, a letter should be sent to them advising of the dismissal (See AWOL Letter 4 in the letter pack). Two copies of this should be sent to the individual’s home address: one by ordinary first class post and one by recorded delivery. If the individual fails to attend, the hearing should go ahead in their absence (unless there are extenuating circumstances) with minutes being taken of the evidence considered and the decision made. Where possible,the outcome should be communicated verbally however, should this not be possible the outcome letter confirming the effective date of termination should be sent to the individual’s home address: one by ordinary first class post and one by recorded delivery. NB the effective date of termination will be the date that the letter is received by the individual ie the date the letter is delivered; therefore it is important the letter is sent by recorded delivery and there is evidence it is signed for.

Points to note:

• If no contact is made with the employee and a decision is made to suspend pay, the Manager will need to inform payroll as soon as possible; 
  • Telephone is the preferred method to attempt to make contact as this is instantaneous. However, if this is unsuccessful and an email address is held on file, this can be used as an alternative method of contact in addition to telephone calls;
  • If the employee is dismissed at the end of the AWOL process, the Manager will be responsible for completing a leaver’s form and sending this to the HRSC to be processed.

Additional points for consideration

If at any point during the above process, the employee makes contact with the Company and/or returns
to work, a meeting should be arranged with them to discuss the period of absence and their reasons for
not contacting the Company to inform them of the absence. Depending on the responses given by the
employee, the manager may wish to speak with HR to see whether, in the circumstances it would be
appropriate to proceed with a disciplinary hearing.
If a decision was made to suspend pay and the employee then returns, the manager will need to contact
payroll to ask that pay be resumed going forward.
Depending on the reasons given by the employee for their unauthorised absence, the manager may need
to contact payroll to ask that pay be reinstated. However, this will not be appropriate in all cases of
unauthorised absence.