In recent years, Irish employers are increasingly encountering instances of employees going absent without official leave ('AWOL') or effectively “ghosting” their employer without explanation. Such conduct presents practical and legal challenges, particularly in balancing operational needs with the requirement to apply fair procedures under Irish employment law. Employers must review the circumstances of such absence carefully, before taking action to ensure that any action taken complies with principles of natural justice and statutory protections. In this article, we examine how employers can best manage these scenarios in practice, and how complaints arising from such situations are increasingly being scrutinised by the Workplace Relations Commission.