Is there a time limit in which an employer must return your personal belonging after you are fired?
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Is there a time limit in which an employer must return your personal belonging after you are fired?
I was fired 13 days ago and they have not cleaned out my desk or returned my personal items.
Asked on August 9, 2015 under Employment Labor Law, North Carolina
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 8 years ago | Contributor
No, there is no specific time period within the law. Send the former employer a letter, sent some way you can prove delivery (e.g. certified mail with return receipt), asking them to either return the belongings to you within 10 days of receipt or to schedule a time for you to pick them up within that time frame. If the do not or will not, then your recourse would be to sue them, possibly in small claims court as your own attorney, for the value of what they have withheld or taken from you.
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 8 years ago | Contributor
No, there is no specific time period within the law. Send the former employer a letter, sent some way you can prove delivery (e.g. certified mail with return receipt), asking them to either return the belongings to you within 10 days of receipt or to schedule a time for you to pick them up within that time frame. If the do not or will not, then your recourse would be to sue them, possibly in small claims court as your own attorney, for the value of what they have withheld or taken from you.
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