Can MA employers fire employee who rejects offer to return to work?

Businesses have slowly been getting the green light to reopen in Massachusetts. While COVID-19 has presented a number of unprecedented challenges for employers in the state, calling furloughed or laid-off employees back to work will be no different. When your company is ready to reopen, will your employees be ready to return? If they refuse to return, what can you do about it?

Calling employees back

There are many reasons (other than illness) why employees may not want to return to work as businesses begin to reopen. Employees who have taken a break from the workforce for the first time in their lives may have decided the daily grind isn’t for them anymore. Schools that have been closed for COVID-19 reasons are now shut for summer break, and summer care and camps may not be available, leaving inadequate sources of care for employees’ children.

Whatever the reason may be, the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance (DUA), citing the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) position, has made it clear: Employees who are offered suitable work and refuse to return may be separated from employment and lose unemployment benefits in many circumstances.

The DUA recommends that when an employee is asked to return to work, the offer be in writing. It should include details, such as the return date, whether it is full-time or part-time, the wage, type of work, hours, general location, and job conditions. Make it clear a job is actually being offered—not just a possible return to work.