Leave of absence
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
'Leave of absence is a colloquial phrase that is typically used in the U.S. to mean an extended period of time away from your job without ending your employment status.
A leave of absence differs from a typical vacation, as a leave of absence is often of indefinite duration, and is usually not an entitlement but is instead the result of a special agreement between employee and employer. Leaves of absence are more often than not initiated at the behest of an employer versus the employee. Sometimes characterized as a “gentle firing” a leave of absence enables an employer to rid itself of a troublesome worker for an extended period without formally terminating that employee. A ready-made tool for the modern workplace, the leave of absence often short-circuits the inevitable litigation that comes with messy firings, all the while allowing the worker to save face by maintaining his “employed” status, albeit without pay.
Originally narrowly tailored for specific life events, such as jury service or bereavement, the leave of absence has morphed into a catch-all escape valve for an assortment of employee misbehavior. Leaves of absence are now routinely issued for a host of worker demons, including, but not limited to, alcoholism, drug abuse, lewd behavior, workplace violence, tardiness, shoddy work product, insubordination, apathy, and general career misdirection. Employers do not, as a rule, inform workers of the specific reasons for suggesting a leave of absence (“Steve, you drink too much at lunch”), but instead favor a more generalized tact (“Mary, perhaps you need some time away from the office”). This approach is in keeping with the “soft” qualities of today’s leaves of absence and preserves the win-win bargain of the arrangement: it prevents the employer from raising an embarrassing, but painfully obvious worker condition, and allows the employee to remain oblivious to his own self-destructive behavior. Sometimes this results in a death spiral for the employee, whereby he uses his newfound free time to indulge more deeply in the very vice that prompted the leave of absence in the first instance.
A leave of absence usually involves an employee’s superior “stopping by” a worker’s desk, office or cubicle. While the conversation may at first appear casual - shooting the breeze as it is sometimes known - the employer will eventually direct the chitchat to the matter at hand, i.e., his leave of absence demand. Often couched in terms of concern about the employee’s well-being and how sorely he or she will be missed, the underlying message of “Leave now. Don’t sue me. And never come back” is lurking beneath the phony sentimentality. Malcontent employees are typically on the receiving end of this conversation and as such are likely to enthusiastically accept this opportunity to “work without working.”
In addition to vacations, leaves of absence are often confused with hiatuses, sabbaticals, “working from home,” and other workplace contrivances. On this scale of absenteeism, the leave of absence, despite its alluring veneer, imparts the greatest sense of societal shame, although this is always lost on the worker. Nevertheless, the leave of absence inhabits a comfortable middle ground for managers and their underlings schooled in the art of conflict avoidance and denial.
