Is it absenteeism if you can’t return to work on time in case of force majeure？ Expert interpretation

CCTV News:The Spring Festival holiday is coming to an end, and various places have ushered in the peak of return. Although all parties have increased their security, there are still some passengers who cannot buy return tickets. If you can’t return to work on time because you can’t buy a ticket, will it be counted as absenteeism?

Professor Shen Jianfeng from the Central University of Finance and Economics said that it is a basic rule that workers should return to their posts in time after the Spring Festival holiday. If there is no way to buy a ticket because the ticket is tight, the worker should ask for leave in time so that the employer can make good work arrangements. Failure to ask for leave in time may constitute absenteeism. Of course, the question here is whether the employer has the right to start calculating absenteeism directly without allowing personal leave. It depends on whether the laborer has exhausted the reasonable means of purchasing tickets. If the laborer has exhausted reasonable means of purchasing tickets and still can’t buy tickets, the employer should grant personal leave instead of refusing to take time off to calculate absenteeism, otherwise it will constitute abuse of management authority.

Is it absenteeism if you can’t return to work on time in case of force majeure?

If you have bought a return ticket, but you can’t return to work on time due to weather, train failure and other reasons, will it be regarded as absenteeism?

Professor Shen Jianfeng from the Central University of Finance and Economics explained this. If the related trains and flights are cancelled due to weather and passenger transport management, and the workers cannot return to their posts on time, they also need to inform the employer in time and provide relevant evidence. In this case, the employer should not treat the employee as absenteeism, and the salary during the period when he can’t return to work should be paid according to the unit’s personal leave salary rules.