Abandonment of employment

Pereira v. The Business Depot Ltd., 2011 BCCA 361 contains a useful statement of the law as relates to abandoning a position of employment in the context of a wrongful dismissal:

The Test for Abandonment

[47] The parties agree that it is an implied term of every employment contract that an employee must attend work. They also agree that when an employee fails to comply with that term he or she will be taken to have abandoned (i.e., repudiated) the contract, entitling the employer to treat the contract as being at an end. Lastly, the parties agree that the trial judge properly stated the test for determining whether an employee had abandoned his or her employment, namely, whether, viewing the circumstances objectively, would a reasonable person have understood from the employee's words and actions, that he or she had abandoned the contract: Assouline v. Ogivar Inc. (1991), 39 C.C.E.L. 100 at 104 (B.C.S.C.); Danroth v. Farrow Holdings Ltd., 2005 BCCA 593, 2005 BCCA 593, 47 B.C.L.R. (4th) 56 at para. 8.