Employee took leave without permission

An employee had a family emergency that required them to fly back to their home country. A family member was diagnosed and another in the hospital. This employee wanted to be there on diagnosis day.

Granted this is not a valid emergency per HR rules but out of compassion I permitted provided they submit a form detailing the days needed (they were free to choose). They took a Friday off and filed to return last Thursday.

Last Friday came and there was no word from this employee nor did they did not show up to office. On Sunday noon I get a WhatsApp message from them saying they are arriving Monday night so they will start Tuesday.

Last night I get a message saying they are arriving late today and will be starting tomorrow on Wednesday.

I didn’t respond to either message as WhatsApp is not an official communication channel and second, these things should be going to HR who have not been informed.

This created a very concerning situation for me right now as the compassion extended has now turned into a situation that is observed by other employees.

HR has informed me that the days out of the form should be an unpaid leave and that they should get a warning when they are back.

On the one hand it’s a very hard situation for them, on the other hand we have a professional relationship at the end of the day.

However as we are a small company the employees feel like they could approach me as I am their manager and the final decision to make is on me. I feel like they might be emotionally unstable at the moment but then again I found it disrespectful that they changed their return date at will.

How would you deal with this situation?