The employee then stayed away from work from Monday to Wednesday the following week, and produced a medical certificate during his disciplinary hearing, indicating that he informed the doctor that on those days he was unfit for duty due to stress. He submitted a medical certificate indicating that he was unfit for work due to lumbago for the first two days, a Thursday and a Friday. In Jacobs / JDG Trading (Pty) Ltd 9 BALR 1045 (P) the employee was dismissed for being absent without leave for five working days.
Would the outcome be different if the employee notifies the employer of his absence? Or put differently: can an employer dismiss an employee who has an acceptable reason for his/her absence, but fails to notify the employer of the reasons for the absence? The answer is yes! The second question deals with the issue of notification. Unless of course, the manager or supervisor has given him permission to go to Sun City. Using the above example, the mere fact that an employee “informs” his manager or supervisor that he is not going to be at work but at Sun City, is not going to change his fate as far as disciplinary action is concerned. Employees often inform their employers that they will not be at work, assuming that they then have permission to be absent. However, if an honest employee admits that he was in Sun City, he might have an explanation for his/her absence, but it is an explanation that an employer is unlikely to accept, leading to disciplinary action. Unless the employer has proof that the employee was not in bed with a migraine, the employer will not be able to find the employee guilty. On day 3 he reports for duty and tells the employer that he was in bed with a terrible migraine. Let us look at the following example: employee A is absent from the workplace for a period of 2 days.
If the employee has a valid excuse, he cannot be found guilty of being absent without leave. The first question that needs to be answered is whether the employee was absent with or without a valid excuse. How does an employer deal with an employee who stays away from work with or without an excuse and does not notify the employer that he will not come to work?
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