KEY POINTS:
Can you be fired for not telling your employer you wouldn't be at work for the next two days?
I am not sure why you were not at work. Employees cannot take time off on the spur of the moment or just because they feel like it.
That said, there are some situations where an employee can take time off without authorisation from the employer.
I am assuming that you have been dismissed for abandonment of employment. It is difficult to know if your dismissal for abandonment was justified without knowing why you took time off and why you did not tell your employer.
Many employment agreements contain abandonment clauses. These generally say that if an employee does not show up to work for a specified number of days (usually three or four), the employer will conclude that the employee has abandoned the employment and employment will end for this reason. But an abandonment clause does not let the employer off the hook. They still need to make reasonable attempts to track down the employee. This includes phoning the employee, faxing, emailing the employee or even visiting the employee's last known address.
The final step in the process is usually to courier or post a letter by registered mail to the employee's last known address, requesting the employee contact the employer by a specified date and, if they fail to do so, the employer will be forced to assume they have abandoned employment and employment will end for reasons of abandonment.
You should check your employment agreement for an abandonment clause.
Employees are entitled to take time off without getting authorisation from the employers in these situations:
1. If they are sick or injured, or if their spouse, parent or person who depends on them for care is sick or injured and needs their care (and they have sick leave days owing).
2. If a public holiday falls on a day which would otherwise be a working day for them, unless the employer has told the employee he or she is required to work the public holiday (employers can only require employees to work public holidays if the employment agreement says they may do that).
3. If an immediate family member dies.
If you took time off and you are not actually entitled to any annual, sick, bereavement, parental, public holiday or alternative holiday leave (or other agreed entitlement), then your employer was probably entitled to treat you as having abandoned your employment.
If you were required to get your employer's authorisation for the leave and did not, you might be treated as having abandoned your employment.
If you did have a good reason for abandoning your employment and had an opportunity to explain the reasons, but did not do so, you might also be treated as having abandoned your employment.
Employers should address the employee's unauthorised absence from work by using fair procedure. The employer should give the employee an opportunity to explain the reasons for their absence before making any decision to take disciplinary action (especially if dismissal is a possibility).
If an employer does manage to track down an absent employee, it cannot end the employment for reasons of abandonment.
However, the employer would be well within its rights to address the employee's unauthorised absence from work through a disciplinary procedure which may result in a warning or even dismissal.
If you did have a good reason for not letting your employer know you would not be at work and were not given an opportunity to explain and you were dismissed despite your good explanations, you could have grounds for a successful personal grievance claim.
Of course, this would depend on the particular circumstances.
In your situation, if you think you have a claim, you should contact the Employment Relations Service or an employment lawyer
