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smeed said:

I was laid off over six months ago, and the company has refused to pay me my severance, vacation pay, and the last week pay owed to me. I have worked there for over 7 years. They are going through finincial difficuly and they offered me half of what i was owed and said lets call it even. I refused and they didn't pay me anything. I then filed a report with the employee standards. I was cleaning my house this week and discovered that i had cds that the company gave me. This cds are on how to operate their equipment. I have had them for several years and was told to take them home and keep them. I faxed my old boss pics of the equipment from the cds and told him he can have them back when the monies owed to me are paid. He called the police and they are visiting me tommorrow. I think he said i stole them. They have my name written on them in the boss's handwriting. I also didn't sign a confidentality agreement. My question is can i get in trouble for sending that fax to my old boss, and can i refuse to give back the cds until i'm paid the monies owed. They are the only leverage I have since the company may be going under and now that he remembers i have them he really wants them back . Also would i get into trouble if i decided to send them to competitors. (not for monetary gain, just for spite)

Your employer is not entitled under Canadian law to withhold money owing to you. You are now in the position of being a creditor to the company with a genuine claim for money i.e. your severance and wages etc against your former employer. You can take the claim to the Small Claims Court to recover what is owed to you. You must provide lots of documentation regarding  the date your employment ended, salary slips, dissmissal notice – basically any memo, email or document which helps prove your case.

Another way around the problem is to get an employment standards officer tocheck out the situation with your employer. He / she will negotiate with the employer to reach a fair and amicable settlement. If your employer will not reach a settlement, your case will be refered by the inspector to the director of employment standards who has the power to issue a 'certificate of unpaid wages.' This has to be registered with the clerk of the court in the province where you were employed / the company resides and then it will be enforced as a judsgement. Check out our section on small claims http://legalcanadacommunity.co…..aims-court