Take action where an individual's employment has ended but they have failed to return company property

Key points

• If, having left the organisation, an employee fails to return company property, the employer should contact the employee and attempt to get them to agree to return the property, setting out the possible consequences of a failure to do so.
• A threat to issue civil proceedings and report the matter to the police if the property is not returned by the relevant date may have the desired effect.
• The employer may be able to deduct the cost of the property from the employee's final wages, if it has the contractual right to do so, but it will have to act quickly in order to do this, and it may not be possible for it to recover the full cost of the property in this way.

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