Do you see dupes when you run just the Select DISTINCT?

select DISTINCT

a.org_id,

a.absr_id,

a.abs_id,

a.abs_date

from absence a (nolock)

where a.abs_date between @StartDate and @EndDate

and a.abs_deleted = 0

and a.abs_id not in (select abs_id from @CloseAbs)

I can think of no reason DISTINCT shouldn't do as its told.

bc