It’s been months on months and I have to give up on the idea of them sending me my personal belongings.. :(
14 replies (most recent on top)
Never ever leave without your belongings. It is illegal. They cannot do that. Absolutely cannot. Sue them. You may have had a gold bracelet in your desk. Absolutely initiate a claim and legal action. They lay a person off and keep their stuff? So wrong. And illegal. But folks are not in the frame of mind at that point to think about it.
I knew it was coming. I cleared all of my personal belongs months in advance of my separation. Anyone still there should do the same. You’re likely next on the list.
Same thing happened to me. I took my immediate belongings and departed but the manager who accompanied me out interpreted my immediate belongings as ALL of my belongings (although HR said the would ship my personal items to me). I finally called HR about the missing items and was told they would be sent. When I received them, I was still missing lots of stuff). Typical.
Employment is at will, so no issues there. However, failure to use ordinary care in handling a terminated employee’s personal property is negligence. Small claims court would be the appropriate approach to resolve this.
Yes the vultures probably picked through your belongings. There are plenty of them that come in all different shapes, sizes and forms. For that reason I never bothered with bringing anything valuable to that place. The littles things I do have like tissue, sanitizer, etc I already have in a bag ready to grab if I do receive the call. You have to stay ready so you dont have to get ready!!!! Hell, I'll be delighted when the time comes.
For the last 2 years I kept anything of value in a separate bag on my desk/locker so when the time came, I would be able to grab it and just leave. Kept bare minimal personal stuff of any importance in the office - no plants, pictures, books, etc. I didn't bother keeping my 'BNYM' mug in that bag.
Fortunately this plan came to fruition.
They let me go over the phone, I still have the company laptop sitting here. They are supposed to send me a box to ship it back and also send me belongings which, not much there because I knew it was coming and clean most of it out. Kind of tell when you are assigned to work on something and when you ask questions and get no answers, you know something is not right. When I get the box I will send it back, I don’t need this outdated garbage.
Take them to small claims court. They will have to show up, and it will be embarrassing for them. Judges don’t like ugly company behavior. Court costs vary, but generally under $100.
Jesus. What a sh--show. I'm not surprised. Get in touch with a co-worker who you trust who is still there, and have them ask one of the managers if they can collect your things and bring them to you personally. That's how we did it at my location a while back. We just boxed up their things and they met us outside in the parking lot and we just handed off the stuff and talked for a while. If the company can't be bothered to do it properly, then your surviving co-workers should be able to help you out. Good luck. I'm really not surprised, though. What a stupid company, can't even do layoffs properly. So glad I got out of there. We should count ourselves lucky!
Vultures likely landed and picked at your desk the day after layoff. Your manager is probably hoping the matter will go away.
Maybe you could ask a co-worker to box up your stuff and send it to you via UPS. That’s what I did and my stuff arrived within a week of my deliverance.
Maybe they laid off the person that returns personal belongings...
That could be the reason many in my department have already cleared their desks.
I have called and called and called and nothing