The Story

On January 8th an employee on leave was scheduled to return to work from a leave of absence. While on leave, there was no contact with the employee and it was assumed the employee would return to work as scheduled and resume their duties. Then an email arrives from them:

“I have decided not to return to work as planned but instead would like for my job to turn into a part time position working 100% from home with my data management responsibilities reassigned to Kim, my platform management responsibilities reassigned to Jack. I will now manage Kim and Jack’s responsibilities and provide reporting and strategic direction to them, and communicate these decisions to Samantha, my current supervisor.”

The employee continues, “I will be available for meetings, calls, and consultation Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1pm to 4:30pm, and will put in my other hours from approximately 8pm to 11pm Monday through Thursday, putting me right at 20 hours a week. I would like to continue with my full benefits, so please let me know when we can discuss my new role, schedule, and benefits. I realize this is short notice, but this is completely doable and look forward to my new role beginning on the 22nd.”

Yes, believe it or not, these situations arise more frequently than most would believe, that is unless you’ve been on the receiving end of an email like this, especially over the last several years.

What The Employee Cannot Do

To be clear, an employee doesn’t have the ability or the authority to decide to change their role from full time to part time or schedule their working hours to their convenience. They cannot reassign their responsibilities to other team members, nor decide if they are going to keep their benefits despite dropping their working hours to 20 hours per week. They do not determine whether a position is WFH or not, and they do not get to approve any employment changes in their role in the organization.

What the Organization Can Do

Reach out to the employee to set up a call with their supervisor and with the entity’s HR representative to:

• Discuss the employee’s current status, including requesting a doctor’s note to return to work on the 8th because the leave was for medical reasons.
• Ask open-ended questions to help them communicate their desires and employment requests.
• Express appreciation for their input regarding their current role and desire to create a new position.
• Discuss challenges to creating a new position at this time.
• Discuss their suggestion to not work normal business hours and the impact this would have on clients and team members.
• Discuss their future role with the organization.
• Let them know that their supervisor and HR will discuss the employee’s requests and get back to them.

The Follow-up

Upon the organization’s decision not to create a new position, the supervisor and HR scheduled a follow-up call with the employee to share that “since the employee has decided not to come back to their current full-time position, and the organization is not going to create a new position for them, the organization accepts the employee’s voluntary resignation effective January 8th. HR will follow up with them regarding next steps in their off-boarding process.”

It is worth noting that up to this point, the employee has been friendly in their communications. However, they now realize they are not going to be able to dictate their employment terms and that the organization will not be happily approving all their employment requests. There’s now a good chance the employee will turn disgruntled, angry, and insulted that their terms are not going to be met. In this case, the employee shared they would have their attorney be their point of contact for future communications because they planned to file a lawsuit.

Because of this, don’t be surprised if the employee starts downloading proprietary information, deleting files, and inappropriately communicating with employees, customers, and vendors about the organization saying the organization is forcing them to resign now that their leave is over. Note: the organization should always be the point of contact and communicate employee changes to employees, customers, and vendors. The departing employee should not be communicating with anyone outside of the organization regarding their departure.

How The Story Ended

The employee came back two days later saying they had decided not to sue and would like to turn in their computer (after already downloading proprietary information) and receive their final paycheck. The organization, however, is now looking at filing a lawsuit due to the employee’s breach of the Non-Disclosure/Non-Solicitation Agreement that the employee signed during onboarding.

Future Proactive Solutions

There are steps organizations can take to help prevent this type of workplace scenario, including:

• During onboarding, employees should sign a Non-Disclosure/Non-Solicitation Agreement along with a Company Equipment Form
• Have a leave request policy that includes how to Return to Work.
• Require all leave requests to be in writing.
• Communicate and check in with employees while they are on leave to be sure they are doing well and that their plans to return to work are on schedule
• Two weeks before the return-to-work date, check in to remind the employee that they will need to provide a doctor’s note to be able to return to work if the leave was for medical reasons.
• During this communication, share with them the organization’s plan to bring them back to work and back into their role
• If their plans have changed, request their new plan to be presented in writing to their supervisor for the organization to review for a determination by leadership regarding their employment request based on organizational needs.
• Monitor employee’s company equipment, email access, and other access to platforms for questionable activity, and be in a position to shut down any suspicious activity immediately
• If questionable/suspicious activity does occur, immediately reach out to the employee to discover what might be going on.
• IT should notify the supervisor and leadership of any suspicious activity they observe.
• If necessary, relieve the employee of any day-to-day responsibilities immediately, demand return of any equipment immediately, and cut off all access the employee has to company proprietary information.
• Communicate as appropriate with team members, customers, and vendors that the employee is on leave and will not be returning to the organization. Instruct them who to contact if they have any needs or questions, and to please contact the organization as soon as possible if they are contacted by that employee while on leave on leave.

Unfortunately, even the best employees can turn into the organization’s worst nightmare if they feel that the organization is not accepting their personal requests or meeting their expectations. It’s best to have a leave policy, communicate policy steps clearly and often, and touch base with employees approximately every two weeks while they are on leave.

We also recommend that you always lead with grace but be prepared to draw that tough-love line to best protect the entity and other team members if/when an employee becomes unhappy and decides to retaliate against the organization. It’s always wise to hope for the best but prepare for the worst.