Business keys not returned

[Guest]

Hi. I have a staff member that I had to let go. I wrote her an email telling her she was dismissed. Despite sending emails and trying to phone, she does not respond. She has the keys to the business and I have asked her to return them but she does not respond. What do I do?

[Scot22]

Either undertake expensive legal action or , as a practical solution,change the locks.

[seduraed]

change the locks tomorrow. Your insurance may be invalid otherwise. If you want you could try suing her for the cost but I suspect it's a cost of doing business.

[efpom]

If your email terminated the contract of employment the instant it was sent, its recipient was no longer your employee and has therefore no contractual obligation to you and therefore has no obligation to make any effort to return any of your property to you.

So, you are not in any position to request your former employee to make any effort to return your property to you

That person's only obligation is to give you one opportunity to collect your property currently in that person's possession.

You say that you emailed and telephoned, presumably in efforts to arrange collection, but you were not able to make contact with your former employee.

As you are a business person, you will undoubtedly have initially written a letter aimed at making arrangements to collect your property and sending it by post to the address of your former employee. You will undoubtedly have that address in your business records