Former employee using HR as storage

katrinal

Hi everyone,

  I have a former employee whose resignation we asked for about 2 weeks ago. She gladly gave it, took most of her belongings and left. Since then, my HR Manager has e-mailed her 2 or 3 times and I have e-mailed her once asking her to come pick up the rest of her belongings as they are taking up room in the HR office (we are temporarily displaced as the company is remodeling the building where our permanent offices are, and we are in very cozy quarters right now so we don't have the space to spare!) In my e-mail I even detailed what we have of hers (including a very large, live plant and reading glasses just to name a few.) She still has not responded to either my manager or I and I don't know what else to do. I would be willing to mail everything back to her if it were not for the plant. I was thinking about sending a certified letter telling her to come get her stuff or we will discard it, but I don't know what kind of deadline to give. We are in Colorado, and I don't even know where to begin looking for any law that may even address this (assuming something as off-the-wall as this is stated in a law/regulation.)

 Has anybody else had this kind of experience and what has been a successful resolution?

 

cappy

If I had the ability to mail her some of the items I would do so with a return receipt request to be sure she got them. Sending a certified letter with a 30 day deadline pick up any other items with a clear message of what you will do with them after the 30 days would seem more than reasonable to me. Any property that remains cannot be sold for company benefit, I don't think, for that would be a type of conversion. However you do not have to remain a storage space for a former employee.

TXHRGuy

Mail what you can.  Get a signature on delivery.  Include a letter saying she can pick up her plant at her convenience.  Put a little note with the plant about who it belongs to and enjoy the greenery in your offices until then.

bevhunt

Your tone isn't very sympathetic. Did you consider that the former employee is embarassed to come back into the office to  pick up these things?

She probably took what was important with her, and doesn't care about the other things. Are they valuable? The glasses may be from the drug store.

If she doesn't answer the emails, send her the letter as suggested, but the tone should not be accusatory. Just give her the deadline.

If she really wanted the plant, etc., she would have had a coworker pick it up for her. I would do what TXHRGuy said and keep the plant in your office with the note.

cappy

[quote user="bevhunt"] Did you consider that the former employee is embarassed to come back into the office to  pick up these things?[/quote]

 

I'm ashamed to admit that I never thought of that.  Me. . a people person. [:$] 

Thanks for the lesson. [Y]