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Employee quit
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We had an employee quit on us last week and we need to send her a letter addressing some issues, but first I though I'd get some advice before proceeding.
1. We know she has a company laptop, it's
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Forums » Topic Forums » Legal Forum » Employee quit
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Employee quit
posted at 10/12/2009 6:59 AM EDT
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Posts: 21
First: 9/21/2007 Last: 12/16/2010 |
We had an employee quit on us last week and we need to send her a letter addressing some issues, but first I though I'd get some advice before proceeding.
1. We know she has a company laptop, it's older but still of value. 2. We don't know for sure, but we believe she has a company camera. We have several community cameras that are not checked/signed in or out, however I have a list of them all and now one is not accounted for. 3. She owes about 10 hours in payroll she was paid but not worked. We have a backwards system where we're paid on the 1st of every month, which means I submit payroll a few days prior to. So the wage based employees estimate the hours they're working the next few days. Any +/- is made up the following month. She submitted 24 hours from m-w last week, but did not come in Monday and left early Wed. 4. She need to turn in her keys. 5. She has not submitted her expense report for the month. She is obviously well aware she will not get reimbursed if it's not submitted, and legally I'm sure we have to pay it, though without it we don't know how much (if any). The laptop and keys are easy to address, however, how would we go about the speculation of the camera? My opinion is to just say she needs to return it in the letter and let her confront us if she claims she does not have it. I also don't know about how to tackle the issue with her payroll. I would like her to submit her expenses so we can bill clients accordingly for mileage etc, but should that also be included? As I said, she obviously knows if it's not turned in, it won't be paid. Also, should we assign a monetary value to the laptop, keys and camera in this letter saying if they are not returned by x date, she'll be assessed a charge for them? |
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Employee quit
posted at 10/12/2009 7:16 AM EDT
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Posts: 2146
First: 2/15/2006 Last: 9/14/2011 |
What state are you in? Not all states allow for recovery of overpaid wages (especially California), especially in the case where the employer has deliberately overpaid (see Sidenote at the end).
Most states do not allow for you to withhold final pay due to the employee not returning company property. Instead, you would need to pay her wages owed (but it doesn't sound like she is owed any) and then take her to civil court to get the property returned if she refused to do so. As for the expense report/check, it might be possible to withhold part/all of it until she returns the company property, but I would check your local/state labor laws before doing so. I would personally write a very simple request that she return the following property and turn in her expense report so that she can be reimbursed. {Sidenote -- /> At this point, I would also consider changing how you pay employees. Because you are currently deliberately overpaying them. I understand payroll timing and always recommend at least a 3 day lag from close of the payroll period til paydate (and I prefer more like 5).} |
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Employee quit
posted at 10/12/2009 7:24 AM EDT
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Posts: 21
First: 9/21/2007 Last: 12/16/2010 |
We're in Wisconsin.
So basically we should just write a letter asking to turn in the property and expense report, I think a date is necessary, and if nothing happens we'd need to notify her of filing a civil claim for compensation of the property? My gut feeling is the wages were a lot cause and not terribly important, but thought I'd ask anyway. However, if you do know the law for WI I would like to hear it. I know the payroll setup is horrible, I've tried to change it since I've been here, but the employees like being paid on the first and not the 3rd or 5th, etc and the owner...lol, that's another story. |
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Employee quit
posted at 10/12/2009 7:41 AM EDT
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Posts: 2146
First: 2/15/2006 Last: 9/14/2011 |
Here's one cite of Wisconsin law:
http://www.dwd.state.wi.us/dwd/publications/erd/pdf/ls_45_p.pdf Hope this helps! |
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