Expert: Thomas R. Ballas - 6/25/2009

Question
We had an unemployment hearing set and the key witness told us two days ahead of time she would be taking the day off as she did not want to be involved. We did not approve this day off and I want to fire her for interfering in a court hearing. Can I. Or can I at least refuse to allow her to use the vacation time we give to the employees. I am very upset that this employee did this as she is the reason the other employee was fired.

Answer
Kim:

Many states are what we call "employment at will" states, meaning the employee works there because they wish to, and because the employer wishes them to.  Either party is free to end the relationship at any time, without cause.

Of course, this is not true if an employee has an employment contract or is covered by a collective bargaining agreement.

That said, what you describe is a employee taking a day off without approval, and one can be held accountable for such behavior.  Whether it is a dismissal offense depends on how you handle such behavior for all employees.

The way to handle such things in the future is to give the employee a directive to attend the hearing, then if they do not it may be considered insubordination, typically a dismissal offense.

Tom Ballas