Job Termination Letter Templates – Writing Guide

Job absences are a reality in the employment sector. Employees may take time off from their jobs without issuing notice to their employers as required by most company policies. When employees fail to come to work for consecutive days, it is considered job abandonment.

A job termination letter is issued when an employee misses work for a specific number of days without intending to return to their place of employment. It is considered voluntary resignation even if the employee has not communicated that they intend to resign. In such cases, employers must officially communicate that the employee has lost their job at the company through a job abandonment termination letter.

A job abandonment termination letter is a document written by an employer informing their employee that their employment has been terminated.

The letter should state that the employee is terminated due to their unexplained absence from work. Often, company policies stipulate how long managers should wait before sending these letters. It depends on an employee’s nature of employment; for example, hours, days, or shifts. Even with such strict policies, the employer must try to communicate with the employee before finally terminating them.

Note: Legally, there are no statutes that define what job abandonment entails. Federal laws like the Family Medical Leave Act do not define job abandonment. However, its definition can be derived from case law, state laws, and company policies. It is recommended that companies create their job abandonment policies to ensure fairness in circumstances where an employee may need to be terminated due to it.

This article provides more information on why you need an abandonment letter, how to write it, and answers the most asked questions regarding job termination letters.

Following are the job termination letter templates that you can download for free:

#01

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#02

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#03

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#04

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Reasons for Issuing Termination Notice Due to Job Abandonment

Job abandonment occurs when an employee fails to report to work or communicate with their employer for extended leave without any valid reason. In such cases, the employer may issue a termination notice to the employee. The termination notice serves as a legal document outlining the reasons for terminating the employee and the effective termination date.

An employer may issue a termination notice due to job abandonment on several occasions, including maintaining a productive workforce, protecting the business from liability, and ensuring compliance with company policies and regulations.

Some of these reasons for issuing a termination notice include the following: 

• The employer may terminate an employee due to a prolonged medical emergency in which the employee fails to communicate with their employer.
• Employers may also terminate employees if they have failed to tender their resignation after they find another job.
• The employer may issue a termination notice to an employee due to an unexpected personal or family tragedy to which the employee needs to dedicate their time.
• The employer may terminate an employee if they fear resigning in person and prefer to allow themselves to resign through job abandonment voluntarily.
• The employer can issue the notice to an employee if they do not fit into the company culture and therefore feel the need to resign.
• Employers may terminate employees who fail to work because of workplace health concerns, especially during pandemics and disease outbreaks. 
• While it may seem simple, employers should consider other circumstances, like an employee being unable to communicate because they have lost their phone or are in a remote area, before deciding that the employee needs to be terminated.

Since job abandonment is likely to occur in any workplace, you, as an employer, must be prepared for such instances. When an employee does not come to work, it may affect the other employees’ shifts and your scheduling.

The information below can help you understand the best ways to handle job abandonment:

Create a company policy

For fairness and to avoid legal complications, you should have a job abandonment policy in the employee handbook. The policy should state the amount of time an employee can miss to be considered having abandoned their job. For example, your policy could note that it is considered job abandonment if an employee misses five consecutive days without notice.

Further, it should provide the procedure before the termination letter is issued to the employee. Your company policy should provide sufficient information on the consequences of job abandonment. It should explain that being terminated due to job abandonment causes employees to lose other benefits they would gain otherwise, as it is considered a voluntary resignation.

Investigate and follow the termination procedure

Before you issue the termination letter, you should follow the procedure set out in the job abandonment policy. The most common way of investigating is establishing communication with the employee. You may email or call them; if they fail to respond within 24 hours, you should try a second and third time. If the employee does not respond to either of the attempts to contact them, you may call their emergency contact.

As a last resort, you may try mailing a letter to the address listed by the employee; if this final attempt fails, you can send a letter stating why the employee has been terminated.

Remain compliant with employment laws

Before considering that an employee has abandoned their job, you should ensure you are not terminating when they are unavailable due to medical reasons. Your job abandonment policy should address the need for an employee to fill out relevant leave forms for medical and family emergency reasons. You should consider the provisions of the Family and Medical Leave Act and other state laws when determining whether an employee has abandoned their job; this will reduce your exposure to legal actions by employees that feel they have been terminated unfairly. 

In the Bareno case, for example, the California Appellate Court ruled in favor of an employee that had sued their employer for wrongful termination. She had notified her employer she would not go to work due to medical reasons and was terminated based on unexplained absence. The court stated that it was a case of wrongful termination because the employer failed to take further steps to contact the employee over her absence before firing her.

Job abandonment occurs when the employee fails to give notice or file the appropriate paperwork explaining why they might miss coming to work. Before issuing the termination letter, you should consider and follow the relevant employment laws. Further, it would help to consider whether the employee is entitled to any payment or benefits. In your job abandonment letter, you should mention these benefits, if any. 

Apply a job abandonment policy

Since there is no standard law you can use to handle job abandonment incidences, it is advisable to have a written policy. If it is in writing, you can share it with your employees in termination letters, your workplace portal, and the employee handbook.

Beyond streamlining the procedure for determining job abandonment, the policy helps reduce legal liability and removes any ambiguity the employee might have regarding abandonment. This policy can be attached to the termination letter outlining why the employee has been terminated.

When preparing your letter, you must understand all the information you must include. You should also use the appropriate professional tone and language throughout your letter.

The steps below provide a helpful guide on how to write a comprehensive letter:

Step 1: Add your contact information

Since this letter is official communication between you and the employee, you should include all the relevant contact information in case it is used for reference. You should mention your company’s name, address, and title. Employee information that should be in the letter includes their name, title, and address. It is also important to mention the date the letter was prepared.

The following is an example:

Fleetways International
72479 Booth Avenue
9537 Santa Barbara, CA
Tim Nadler
Supervisor
Joyce Guyan,
596 Pentwood Avenue
4562 Atlanta, GA
January 16, 2022

Step 2: Explain the letter’s objective

Once you have provided contact information, explain why you wrote the letter. You should mention the company policy that the employee violated, which has led to their termination. You should use the language stipulated in the employee handbook as much as possible.

For example:

Fleetways International has a strict report-to-work policy stipulated in the employee handbook. Our policy states that all employees need to be at work within 15 minutes of their assigned shifts. Should an employee be unable to work, they must have informed their supervisor before their shift or within 24 hours of failing to show up for their shift. Failure to issue notice for three consecutive shifts amounts to job abandonment, for which the employee will receive a termination letter.

Step 3: Highlight the employee’s indiscretions

Once you have specified the reason for writing a termination notice, you should give a more detailed explanation based on the employee’s violations. Your explanation should include the days your employee missed work and the attempts made to contact them.

The following is an example of this description:

You have failed to report for your 9 am shift at Fleetways International on the following days; January 10, 2022, January 11, 2022, January 12, 2022, and January 13, 2022. We have tried to reach you via email and phone calls at 10 am on each of the days listed above, communication to which you have not responded.

Step 4: State the consequences

The description of the employee’s absences lays a basis for the consequences of job abandonment. Therefore, you can begin a new paragraph and state the effective day and time of termination. Since the employee has not shown or communicated any intent to return, you should consider them to have resigned voluntarily.

You can state the consequences as shown in the example below:

Due to the above indiscretions, we are terminating your employment according to the stipulations of the employee handbook. Effective immediately, your employment at Fleetways International has come to an end. We note that you have not attempted to contact me or any other employee regarding your absence; as such, we consider this a voluntary resignation.

Step 5: Add necessary details

Since you have not communicated with the employee on other terms of their resignation, you should mention them in the letter. This information may include the benefits the employee is entitled to and details on how they can return company property and clear their workstation.

For example:

We request you return any company property, including uniforms, cell phones, laptops, and other company devices. If you wish to clear your workstation or take any personal items left on our premises, please contact Miriam Gates via 555-2345 to set a date. Please note that any property within the company premises shall be disposed of by February 1, 2022. Any healthcare benefits you are entitled to as an employee at Fleetways International will continue until January 31, 2022, after which you will no longer be eligible.

Step 6: Sign the letter

You should conclude your letter professionally by providing information on who the employee can contact for help or clarification. You can then sign and send the letter. Handwritten signatures are preferred in this instance.

The following is an example of what the conclusion of your letter should look like: 

Sincerely,
Tim Nadler