"My House Just Burned Down, And I Don’t Know When I Will Be Back At Work"

Is an employer entitled to take the position that an employee has resigned if she advises that she does not know when she will be returning to work (as a result of a significant personal crisis) and fails to stay in contact with the employer in the ensuing weeks? This issue was recently considered by the British Columbia Supreme Court in Beggs v. Westport Foods Ltd .¹

In Beggs, the employee's home was destroyed by fire in February, 2010. The following day, the employee telephoned the employer to advise of the fire and said that she would not be coming into work and did not know when she would return. Over the next month, the employee was consumed with sorting out her insurance claim, finding a place to rent and arranging for her home to be replaced. During this period the employer tried to contact the employee on two occasions, but her phone was disconnected. As a result, the employer prepared and filed a Record of Employment indicating the employee had quit.