Abandonment of employment clause: sample and the steps behind it

Sample clause

Written for employment contract for a retail team member at a fictional homewares store, Coastline Living, in Newcastle NSW.

Unexplained Absence. (a) If the Employee is absent from work for 3 consecutive rostered shifts without the Employer's consent and without notifying the Employer of the reason, the Employer will try to contact the Employee by phone, text, email and the emergency contact on file. (b) If the Employer cannot reach the Employee, it will write to the Employee's last known postal and email addresses, asking the Employee to contact the Store Manager and explain the absence by a stated date at least 5 business days away. (c) If the Employee explains the absence by that date, the Employer will consider the explanation before deciding on any action. (d) If the Employee does not respond by that date, the Employer may end the employment by written notice, effective on the date of the notice, and will pay all outstanding wages and accrued leave.

Sample wording, not legal advice.

Variants

What to negotiate

• The employer still ends it

  In Australia, an unexplained absence does not usually end employment by itself. If the employer ends the job, it is generally treated as a dismissal, and the employee may be able to bring an unfair dismissal claim. A clause that sets reasonable contact steps and a chance to explain gives the employer a fair process to point to.

• Reasons for absence matter

  Many absences turn out to have a reason: illness, a family emergency, a mental health crisis or an accident. An employee who later shows a good reason, and who could not reasonably have made contact, may have a strong claim if dismissed. The clause should commit the employer to considering any explanation.

• Document every attempt

  A dated record of each call, text, email and letter, and of any reply, is the employer's evidence that it acted fairly. The abandonment of employment letter example includes a table of contact attempts with dates, methods and outcomes before setting the deadline.

The risk of leaving it out

Without a clause or a process, an employer faced with an employee who disappears may either wait indefinitely, holding a role open, or end the employment too quickly and face an unfair dismissal or general protections claim if the absence had a good reason. A clear contact and deadline procedure avoids both.

Abandonment and dismissal in Australia

Older awards often said that absence without consent or notice for a period, such as three days, was evidence of abandonment, and some agreements still do. Most modern awards no longer include such a clause, and the Fair Work Commission looks at whether the employer, in substance, ended the employment. If it did, the dismissal must have a valid reason and a fair process, judged under Part 3-2 of the Fair Work Act 2009. Law checked on 21 October 2026. This page explains how the law works and is not legal advice.

The contact steps

The sample's steps reflect what tribunals expect: several attempts by different channels, contact with the emergency contact, a written letter to the last known addresses, a reasonable deadline, and genuine consideration of any explanation. The abandonment letter example follows the same order, recording five missed shifts, attempts by phone, email and the emergency contact, and a deadline to call the store by a set time.

Final pay

If employment ends, the employee is still owed all wages for work done, accrued and untaken annual leave, and any other entitlements under the award or contract. Notice, or pay in lieu, may be required unless the employer can show serious misconduct. Paying everything owed promptly removes one ground of complaint even if the dismissal itself is later challenged.

Where the clause sits in a generated document

Employment contracts and employee handbooks carry this clause, and the abandonment letter puts it into practice. When asking the AI document generator for the letter, give the missed shifts, the contact attempts with dates, the deadline and what happens if there is no reply.

Documents that carry this clause

Abandonment of employment letter with every contact attempt listedAn abandonment of employment letter is the written step an employer takes when someone stops coming to work and cannot be reached. It has to record the absences and every attempt at contact, give a fair deadline, and say what may happen without deciding it yet, because an Australian employer that treats silence as a resignation can end up defending a dismissal.

Questions people ask