ATA/261/1997•Public employee’s abandonment of post after maternity leave
ATA/261/1997Court of Justice / Administrative ChamberApr 22, 1997Dismissed
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A public employee returning from maternity leave was assigned afternoon work but chose to appear only in the morning because that suited her better. The court held that this conduct constituted abandonment of post under the applicable employment rules. As a result, she lost entitlement to salary, including the three-month notice-period pay she sought after immediate termination.
LTA.11; abandonment of post by a public employee returning from maternity leave. Where the employer has validly assigned working hours and the employee deliberately limits her availability to a different schedule for personal convenience, such conduct may amount to abandonment of employment and justify the loss of wage entitlement. The decisive criterion is not the employee’s subjective preference but compliance with the notified work organization; the employee cannot invoke a right to remuneration for a notice period when the termination results from her own culpable non-performance.
Descripteurs
FONCTIONNAIRE ET EMPLOYE; ABANDON D'EMPLOI; HORAIRE DE TRAVAIL; TRAVAIL A TEMPS PARTIEL; EPM
Normes
LTA.11
Résumé
L'employée qui se tient à disposition de son employeur tous les matins, de retour d'un congé maternité, alors que l'employeur lui a notifié un horaire de travail de l'après-midi résilie avec effet immédiat son contrat de travail et ne peut prétendre au paiement des 3 mois de délai de congé. La fonctionnaire, engagée à 75% avant son accouchement, qui, en ayant obtenu une réduction de son poste à 50%, ne se présente lors de sa reprise de travail que le matin parce que cet horaire l'arrange mieux, alors que sa hiérarchie l'a affectée à un travail l'après-midi, est responsable d'un abandon de poste qui lui ôte son droit au salaire.
Extracted by Omnilex
Whether the employee’s refusal to work the assigned afternoon schedule constituted abandonment of post.
Yes. By not complying with the assigned working hours on return from leave, the employee abandoned her post.
She made herself available only in the morning for personal convenience, despite a notified afternoon schedule. That conduct amounted to a culpable abandonment of employment.
Whether the employee retained entitlement to the notice-period salary after immediate termination.
No. Because the employee was responsible for the abandonment of post, she could not claim payment for the three-month notice period.
The abandonment of post deprived her of the right to wages for the period in question.
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