Absenteeism is one of the reasons for dismissing an employee “under the article”. The Labor Code clearly defines what absenteeism is. However, what to do if the employee was absent from work for exactly 4 hours or lunch time falls during the absence?
Considering that the law clearly states that absenteeism must last more than 4 hours, absence of an employee for exactly four hours (or less) is not absenteeism. That is, if the employee is not at work from 2 pm to 6 pm, dismissal for absenteeism will be wrong.
In the event that lunch is included at 4 o'clock in the absence of working time, it is impossible to fire for absenteeism, because lunchtime is not included in working hours and is paid, and according to the law, absenteeism is the absence of an employee during the working day or shift (clauses "a "Clause 6, Part 1, Article 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). Therefore, when calculating the time of absenteeism, lunch is deducted. For example, an employee was absent for 4 hours 10 minutes, but during his absence there was 1 hour of lunch, therefore he was absent only 3 hours 10 minutes during working hours, and this is not absenteeism.
If the employee was absent for more than 4 hours of working time, but some of the time falls before lunch, and some after, dismissal for absenteeism is quite acceptable, because the time of absence is not interrupted by a lunch break. That is, the time of absence of the employee before and after lunch must be added up, and if, as a result of the addition, more than 4 hours are obtained, the employee can be fired for absenteeism.
However, if the length of the working day is not clearly established for the employee, then, in principle, he cannot commit absenteeism, because nothing has been established in what period he should be at work.
The employer can rightly regard as absenteeism the absence of an employee at advanced training courses, because the period of such training refers to working time, since it is included in the length of service and is paid by the employer.
