can an employer get rid of your stuff after you have left?

rainbowGuy

rainbowGuy

rainbowGuy

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19 Dec 2016
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what are your thoughts on when you have given your company 4 weeks notice but used 2 weeks holidays for the last 2 weeks..

so dilema is when i left after 2 weeks, they threw away some of my stuff... and my actual 4 weeks notice doesnt expire until this next week.

I did contact another employee who apparently didnt see my message until today and by this time they had decided to throw away stuff.
 
I would have taken everything I wanted to keep on the last day I was working in the building (ie. before the holiday). I've never known anyone to return after their last working day.
 
Em3bbs said:
I would have taken everything I wanted to keep on the last day I was working in the building (ie. before the holiday). I've never known anyone to return after their last working day.
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Yeah I would have thought you'd be considered to be trespassing if you turn up after your employment ends.
 
Any decent employer would've at least picked up a phone or something. Simply binning all your stuff is unacceptable imo.

Were you disliked? How long did you work there? What sort of stuff are we talking about?
 
Diddums said:
What sort of stuff are we talking about?
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A Pink hippo, a brown bear and a yellow baldie with a zip on his mouth.

Geoffrey-Hayes.jpg
 
If I remember we had a similar issue with a couple of leaver's at our place. They were taken to their lockers and told to ensure that they took all of their belongings with them as they would not be returning.
One of them calls back a week later to collect "something or other" from their locker - they were told that they were given every opportunity to remove belongings prior to leaving the site and that the locker had now been emptied and contents disposed of.
I believe there were shouts of "I'll sue for this....." but I'm also pretty sure that we never saw or heard from him again.
Question would be, were you given every opportunity to take your belongings off of site?
 
They shouldn’t really throw it outright. The preferred option is to empty the desk/locker in to a box (whilst a witness is present) then set it aside for a period of x days/weeks etc.

You should then be given the opportunity to claim your belongings before they’re disposed of.

After all, what if you claim they’ve thrown personal items? That could get messy and it’s one reason why the places I’ve worked have almost done everything they can to avoid touching personal items.

Speak to your old boss but ultimately if it’s binned, there’s little hope of seeing that stuff again.
 
Em3bbs said:
I'm talking about him being on holiday for 2 weeks after his last working day.
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Yes I agree with you - If they had 4 week notice, worked the first 2 weeks, took 2 weeks holiday, when they got back from holiday their employment is officially ended, so there's no way he/she should be going back to site to pickup anything. As you say, they should have taken everything with them on the last day of the 2 weeks that they worked.
 
Diddums said:
Any decent employer would've at least picked up a phone or something. Simply binning all your stuff is unacceptable imo.

Were you disliked? How long did you work there? What sort of stuff are we talking about?
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Talasour said:
A good employer should have called before binning your stuff, did you leave the job on good terms?
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Were we separated at birth or something? Daryl, is that you?
 
Why did you leave your "stuff" at work if you knew that having done the 2 weeks working and 2 weeks on holiday, you had served your notice period? Maybe they have a replacement employee and needed a clean and tidy desk for the new starter.
 
EGuitarStar said:
Why did you leave your "stuff" at work if you knew that having done the 2 weeks working and 2 weeks on holiday, you had served your notice period? Maybe they have a replacement employee and needed a clean and tidy desk for the new starter.
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Maybe he didn't have a desk job. At our place our guys all have massive cupboards where they store their stuff, loads of it personal. We'd never get rid of anything without confirming with them first, even if they left.
 
I am not sure how to answer some of the q.

1. it is nothing much but rubber-pads for mouse/keyboard to mitigate RSI.. around 50£ worth or so. but still something i should have asked the employer to but as its small company i thought i was doing them a favour by using my own!

2. I had good relationship with the employer (small company with 6-8 people) so was good with the CEO but i think he took my resignation wrong.. I actually worked really hard for this guy overtime lots mainly, giving my input even when not needed ie outside of my job desc..

3. I didnt get any warning or email saying they are throwing it away

4. just few months back another lady was actually FIRED, and they kept her stuff (small stuff, like eyliner/makeup etc, and few other things) until she came to pick it up (There was a joke that i am the first person to actually resign, almost everyone before me has been fired!)

5. I left my things there on the desk and there's a small empty shelf/cabinet behind me which is pretty much empty where he could have placed my stuff and warned me..

6. left my stuff because i actually forgot, i know it was right there but i was talking to the colleague for handover and forgot to look back at my desk..
 
Seems a bit weird to chuck away items belonging to a current employee, assuming they weren't stored somewhere they shouldn't be (e.g. if the company operates a clear desk policy and items were left on the desk) but unless there was any stuff you are bothered about I would just forget about it and move on.
 
Marky said:
Yeah I would have thought you'd be considered to be trespassing if you turn up after your employment ends.
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Trespass is an unjustifiable interference with someone's property, turning up to collect your things is NOT trespass by any definition.

As an employee his employer has a duty of care to any property left on their premises, they just can't just throw it away without warning when he still works there!
 
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