-3

A co-worker is taking family leave to take care of his father. Is it OK for his manager to take down his personal items from his cubicle and give his desk to someone else?

I am a co-worker/friend who was asked to take down the personal items and I refused.
It is not a space issue or resources issue. I do believe it is a way to jerk this guy around more than he has been.

closed as off-topic by gnat, Joel Etherton, mcknz, Alec, scaaahu Aug 15 '15 at 2:51

This question appears to be off-topic. The users who voted to close gave these specific reasons:

  • "Questions asking for advice on what to do are not practical answerable questions (e.g. "what job should I take?", or "what skills should I learn?"). Questions should get answers explaining why and how to make a decision, not advice on what to do. For more information, click here." – Alec, scaaahu
  • "Questions seeking advice on company-specific regulations, agreements, or policies should be directed to your manager or HR department. Questions that address only a specific company or position are of limited use to future visitors. Questions seeking legal advice should be directed to legal professionals. For more information, click here." – gnat, Joel Etherton
If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.

28

Since you reference Family Leave I am going to assume this is a longer term absence (in the US the Family Medical Leave Act provides for up to 1 year unpaid absence and I am guessing most countries have something similar).

If this is a 1-2 week absence (or what ever is the normal maximum vacation time per year is) then I would say this is abnormal but most likely OK since the cube / desk is the employer's property.

However if this is a longer leave (6 months to a year), is the employer expected to lose the use of the cube / desk until the employee's return?

As long as the personal items are properly secured and it is a longer term absence I don't think there is any issue.

17

It is preferable if the employee or a relative can come in and take away his personal stuff if he is going to be off for a long period of time. Unfortunately due to the nature of this type of leave, it is not always possible.

There certainly should be no expectation that the desk will not be turned over to a different person (such as a temp replacement) or even that the office will still be in the same location when this person returns.

When you are out for an extended period, the company may need to use the space. We had one person who was out for six months for an illness whose possessions got moved 6 separate times in that time period as we hired many new people and tried to find the space to put them in.

The critical thing is that the supervisor take care to make sure the personal possessions are not lost.

But remember, this is not an employee's desk, it is a company desk. The company can do what it like with it. The person's computer may also get reassigned as it too is company property. After all if I hire a temp to do your job while you are out on six months of leave, I am not likely to buy a new computer for that person. This is one reason why it is almost never a good idea to store much personal stuff on your work computer.

People get attached to their space. But remember, you don't own the desk, you don't own the computer, so don't leave anything there that you would not want others to see or that it would pain you to lose. Most companies will try hard not to lose your physical stuff if they need to take the space for someone else, but if the time period is long enough, it is easy to lose stuff.

2

Honestly if I was going to be away for an extended period of time, even a 2 week vacation, I take as much of 'my things' with me as I can and the rest I put away neatly in my desk.

My job was in transition during the summer and they were moving another group out within a month. My boss hired for some of the vacated spaces and just had new people move to whichever desk was open because the employee was on a 1-2 week vacation. I didn't find that offensive in the slightest.

2

If you refused to take down personal items from a co-worker/friend I would say that is not a good position to take.

That is a fairly simple request from management and clearly the intent is to preserve the personal items and return them to the co-worker when they return.

There may be some office moves planned.

It could be out of respect for privacy so people don't ask where is Bill to be told he is out on a family care leave.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.
{"cc_re__cc_re__cc_by_sa_3_0": ["<li class=\"-item\"><a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/officialstackoverflow/\" class=\"-link\">Facebook</a></li>\r\n                    <li class=\"-item\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/stackoverflow\" class=\"-link\">Twitter</a></li>\r\n                    <li class=\"-item\"><a href=\"https://linkedin.com/company/stack-overflow\" class=\"-link\">LinkedIn</a></li>\r\n                </ul>\r\n\r\n                <p class=\"mt-auto mb24\">\r\nsite design / logo &#169; 2019 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/\" rel=\"license\">cc by-sa 3.0</a>\r\n                            with <a href=\"https://stackoverflow.blog/2009/06/25/attribution-required/\" rel=\"license\">attribution required</a>.\r\n                    <span id=\"svnrev\">rev&nbsp;2019.8.16.34633</span>\r\n                </p>\r\n            </div>\r\n        </div>\r\n\r\n            </footer>\r\n            <script>StackExchange.ready(function () { StackExchange.responsiveness.addSwitcher(); })</script>\r\n    <noscript>\r\n        <div id=\"noscript-warning\">The Workplace Stack Ex"], "copyright__copyright__copyright": ["own personal items from a co-worker/friend I would say that is not a good position to take.\n\nThat is a fairly simple request from management and clearly the intent is to preserve the personal items and return them to the co-worker when they return.\n\nThere may be some office moves planned.\n\nIt could be out of respect for privacy so people don't ask where is Bill to be told he is out on a family care leave.\n\nNot the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question."]}