Company holding payment in lieu of IT equipment

Undervalued

Exodi said:

xyz111 said:

i have emailed them many times 
first they said they don't owe it and when i showed them their letter which states that (and which is true) they stopped writing back to me..

please advise

You seem to avoid the question as to whether you have made any efforts to return the equipment, but reading between the lines I'm assuming your only contact to them is regarding outstanding monies.

As others are suggesting an LBA, to again repeat what I said above: "If you need to take this further to recover any outstanding monies, it would pay dividends if you can show you made reasonable effort to return the equipment."

Dakta said:

Id make it clear the it equipment is available to be collected. They can arrange for it unless contract says otherwise, but make it clear they are free to do so.

With that complication clearly outlined id chase the money as a separate issue, letter before action etc

Most employment contracts specify that company equipment is to be returned (though I encourage the OP to check theirs). I do not think it's reasonable to just unilaterally decide that the company has to collect the equipment from you to fulfill your obligations under the contract. It would be more cooperative to make clear efforts to return the equipment, even taking it to the office and having someone sign/take a picture/etc.

It sounds like the OP has not made any effort to return the equipment and is solely relying on the defense of "well they haven't asked for it". I totally get that the employer originally said they would reach out about it first, but if the OP is to pursue this further, they'll want to show they have made reasonable efforts to return the equipment - more than just waiting to be contacted. The argument is harder if they're trying to argue for unpaid wages, while still holding company equipment hostage.

Maybe.

Obviously neither party has the legal right to hold the other's money or equipment to ransom 

However I think it depends to some extent on the nature of the company. If it is a solid company that is still likely to be trading if / when a court orders them to pay the OP what he is owed, then I agree it may be best to do the decent thing and return the equipment. If necessary then send a LBA and file a small claim for what is owed.

However if they are in any way dodgy or likely to go bust, and the equipment has some useful value, then I'd be tempted hold on!

Dakta

Understood, which is why I said check the contract, but there are a lot of companies (especially those employing remote workers) where they send the gear out to you initially through a courier, and have their own processes for collecting it. Where I work for instance when you leave you will be asked your availability for collection,all you need to do is be in to hand it over. Which is good because I wouldn't drive to the head office to drop it off (and there's no way I could get an office chair in my car anyway)

From conversations with my contracting friends, this seems pretty much the norm but I may be wrong and it will be very industry dependant.

The main point of my post though is to shake off this notion of ransom, I wouldn't do anything more than you're contracted to do, but I would make sure the equipment is 'availab;e' so in my case it would just be make it clear that the equipment is available for pickup. If you do have to drop it off, then drop it off.

Then you can isolate the real issue which is the unpaid monies, which would only be made complicated by the fact you have equipment you shouldn't have. 

That said you shouldn't, unless contracted to, go out of your way to give the equipment back especially if at an expense. 

Grumpy_chap

Dakta said:

Then you can isolate the real issue which is the unpaid monies, 

Except it is not absolutely clear to me that there are any unpaid monies, and the OP has not commented when directly queried on this.

xyz111 said:

Hi all..

My contract was terminated and company suggested that they will hold payment until I have returned their IT equipment. They advise that they will write to me where to get the equipment back to. Now its been a few months and they have not come back to me. When I wrote to them they said no monies are owed. When I argued they stopped communicating.

What to do 
thanks

It would not be unusual for a junior Line Manager to say something like that (my bold) but when the final pay is processed, payroll dept simply process everything correctly as they should do with the full knowledge that the company has no basis to withhold payment from the employee.

That would make the latter part of the post also correct "they said no monies are owed".

Has the OP carefully assessed the final payslip? 
It is common that final payslips are not representative of a normal pay period because of various reasons that might include partial pay period worked, holiday allowance adjustment to be added / deducted, etc. 
What is the amount of money that the OP thinks is owed?

Dakta

I'm not saying it would go in the former employees favour

I'm just saying it isolates the issue. At the moment you have a back and forth matter of 'we wont engage whilst you hold our equipment' which is not ideal, so break that deadlock and you can progress.

penners324

Drive to their offices. Hand the equipment back to them. With a signed note that this has been done.

Then threaten to sue them for the money

Hoenir

Dakta said:

That said you shouldn't, unless contracted to, go out of your way to give the equipment back especially if at an expense. 

There's no reason for the courier cost not to be reimbursed. Perhaps it's your attitude that has resulted in your ex employer deciding to do nothing further. Presumably the balance is in their favour. 

Exodi

Hoenir said:

Dakta said:

That said you shouldn't, unless contracted to, go out of your way to give the equipment back especially if at an expense. 

There's no reason for the courier cost not to be reimbursed. Perhaps it's your attitude that has resulted in your ex employer deciding to do nothing further. Presumably the balance is in their favour. 

To be clear, Dakta is not the OP, though they are clearly looking at it through the lens of a fully remote worker who may have never visited an office, or might be hundreds of miles from one. Despite fully remote workers making up 10% of the population, they have concluded their equipment return arrangements are likely the status quo.

As you say, if is acceptable for the goods to be posted, there are steps that can be taken to remove the obstacle. "Id make it clear the it equipment is available to be collected" just perpetuates the situation the OP is in: "At the moment you have a back and forth matter of 'we wont engage whilst you hold our equipment' which is not ideal, so break that deadlock and you can progress.".

Dakta said:

From conversations with my contracting friends, this seems pretty much the norm

Well who would have expected that? By the by, one day I asked everyone in my gym whether they consumed a protein shake at any point during the day, and was shocked to learn that most said they did. I think we can extrapolate this to the general public and conclude that drinking protein shakes is pretty much the norm.

xyz111

they are not interested in taking back the IT equipment.
They are just not interested in paying up as IT equipment is cheaper than the monies they are holding.

this what they said within their letter:
Please can you arrange for all your equipment to be delivered back to the <city name> office location (address at the top of this letter). For now we will deduct the cost of the equipment from your final salary. I will seek a cost for this equipment and inform you of it in due course.

BoGoF

xyz111 said:

they are not interested in taking back the IT equipment.
They are just not interested in paying up as IT equipment is cheaper than the monies they are holding.

this what they said within their letter:
Please can you arrange for all your equipment to be delivered back to the <city name> office location (address at the top of this letter). For now we will deduct the cost of the equipment from your final salary. I will seek a cost for this equipment and inform you of it in due course.

So why does your OP say you haven't been told where to return the equipment to when the above tells you where to send it? Why haven't you returned it as requested?

Grumpy_chap

xyz111 said:

they are not interested in taking back the IT equipment.
They are just not interested in paying up as IT equipment is cheaper than the monies they are holding.

this what they said within their letter:
Please can you arrange for all your equipment to be delivered back to the <city name> office location (address at the top of this letter). For now we will deduct the cost of the equipment from your final salary. I will seek a cost for this equipment and inform you of it in due course.

Why haven't you done as they have requested?
How much are they withholding?

I suspect the previous comments from the employer about nothing being due, relate to the current status of your failure to return the IT equipment.

You may think they are not interested in the IT equipment, but I suspect they are as they will be concerned about data security even if the equipment value is insignificant.

It seems rather late in the thread for that information to come out.  What else will you drip in to conversation?