The Supreme Court has ruled that an employee who remains absent from work without permission and fails to provide evidence to justify the absence cannot seek reinstatement based solely on unverified claims.

A Bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta set aside a Labour Court award, later upheld by the Allahabad High Court, which had directed an employer to reinstate an employee with back wages.

The case involved an employee of M/s Rifilis Engineering Pvt. Ltd. who stayed away from work for 24 days without authorisation. During this period, the company issued a show-cause notice to his permanent address in Bihar, asking him to explain his absence and warning him of disciplinary action if he failed to respond.

The employee, however, was living in Noida and claimed he never received the notice because it was not sent to his current address. He also argued that he was absent due to his mother's ill health and that he had informed his superior officer before leaving.

When he later tried to return to work, the company allegedly refused to allow him to rejoin, leading to prolonged litigation.

The Supreme Court, however, found no fault with the employer's actions. It observed that the company had sent the notice to the address provided by the employee himself and could not be expected to track changes in his residence unless he formally informed them.

The Court said an employee cannot benefit from his own failure to update his address with the employer.

It also noted that the employee failed to produce any documents to support his claim that he had remained absent to care for his ailing mother. There was no medical record, leave application, letter, email or any written communication sent to the employer during the period of absence.

The Bench emphasised that if the employee's explanation was genuine, he could have at least informed the employer in writing.

The Court further observed that there was no evidence to show that the employee had made any attempt to rejoin duty after the period of absence.

Holding that both the Labour Court and the Allahabad High Court erred in granting relief despite the lack of evidence, the Supreme Court allowed the company's appeal and upheld the employee's removal from service.

Case: M/s Rifilis Engineering Pvt. Ltd. v. Arjun Gupta