Human Resource Blog

Illegal Disposal of Items at Workplace

	Employment Training
Employee Warning Notice Employee Counseling Report Performance Improvement Plan Forklift Safety Kit

	HR Management
Confidential Employee Folder Confidential Employee Medical Folder Job File Worksheet Folder Daily EEO Applicant Flow Log Workplace Information Sheets Request to Inspect Personnel Files

I recently gave my two week notice to resign at a big corporation located in Pennsylvania. Because of extenuating circumstances, I was was unable to be at work for the final two days of my two weeks. I made a request to my manager to forward my awards I won at the company to be forwarded to me since they would not allow my close friend and colleague to bring them to my home.
I was informed that this was not allowed and my possessions would be mailed to my new address. I then provided my new address to the company a week later via email and fax to the HR department and I also emailed the information to my former manager several times.
I then received an email stating that my items would be sent to me. Upon receipt, I discovered that all my awards that I won for being a top performer at the company (five of them) were not among the items sent. When I called and spoke to the manager I was informed that they were thrown out and too expensive to replace. I have since written to the CEO of the company and I still have not received any response. Are there any laws that are in favor of me for the company illegally disposing of my possessions?

This is a perfect illustration of why employees should clear personal possessions out of their office the day they give notice, not on their last day.

In fact, when there is likely to be hard feelings between employee and employer, it’s not a bad idea to take any personal items home before giving two week’s notice.

The employee probably feels that the employer is “dinking him around” by tossing his sales awards in the trash – and he’s probably right. The manager might be angry that the worker missed the last two days of work, or might just be ticked off that the employee is leaving.

Either way, this is rather immature behavior on the manager’s part.

The employee can take whatever legal action he would take if someone entered his office and stole the awards. He can report the incident to the police, or take the employer to small claims court.

Some companies do retain ownership of any awards presented to employees, although the workers are allowed to keep the items in their office. This is usually true when a trophy is passed on to different people each month or year. It doesn’t sound like this is the case here, but the employer might well argue that it is, in court.

Realistically, it’s probably not worth the employee’s time to pursue this issue. Even if the employee won in small claims court, he would be paid a dollar amount for the awards, not have them replaced. And, the award is likely to be less than the original purchase price.

The best thing to do in this situation is just walk away, and be happy you are not working for such a petty employer anymore. The employee can still legitimately claim to have won the awards on his resume, which is the most important thing.