Q: “We have an employee who was hired in January 2014 and shortly afterward announced she was pregnant. She went on leave Aug. 4 and was scheduled to return Oct. 20. She did not qualify for FMLA or NJFLA. On Oct. 20, she came into the office (which is shared by another company) and an employee of the other company told her that another person had been working at her desk. Our employee called her supervisor and let her know that she had returned from maternity leave and that she was not happy that someone was at her desk. The supervisor expressed that she was not aware that she was returning from maternity leave that day, that someone was indeed working at her desk, and that she (supervisor) would like for her (employee returning from maternity leave) to work at another office that we have. The offices are less than three miles from one another and the employee would be performing the same job duties. The employee got mad, both called and sent an email to HR, and then left the office before any of our employees arrived.
“The supervisor and HR have both tried to contact her by phone and email. A certified letter was mailed to the employee stating that when an employee is on leave, it takes a little time to get them re-established in our system (logins, passwords, etc.).
“We know that she was upset, we apologized for the inconvenience, but explained that she did not wait to hear a response from HR as to what to do and that if she would contact us, we would be willing to work things out. We have not heard from her and are wondering what should be our next step? Our policy is if you do not report for work and the company is not notified of your status, it will be assumed after two consecutive days of absence that you have resigned and you will be removed from the payroll. As of the 2nd of November, 12 weeks have passed. That's more days than even FMLA or NJFLA allow for her to take. What should we do?” – Crystal, Tennessee
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