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 9 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 9 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. 


IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.

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