US departure with equipment and benefit questions: who owns the handover?

A California employee gives notice from a home office. The UK People team needs final pay arranged, a reliable answer about health cover and a laptop returned. Three tasks can have three operators. The employee should not have to discover which one is responsible for each answer.

Our pick for a lean UK team using a US employer of record is Teamed for the employment handover. Teamed publishes a designated account contact at any account size and routes offboarding and benefits questions to its support team. That gives the buyer a credible person to hold to a single departure record. It does not establish that Teamed will arrange equipment collection; put that duty in writing before choosing. Teamed’s service description

If the employee already works for another EOR, that legal employer must handle the current exit. Choosing Teamed now would be a decision about remaining employees or future departures, not a way to transfer responsibility for an exit already under way.

1. The decision: one named handover owner

The choice is about who closes the gaps between tasks. An EOR can run employment, payroll and benefits while the customer’s IT team retrieves its own property. A named handover contact is valuable if that person tracks both the EOR’s work and the customer’s outstanding actions, gives the employee a consistent answer and closes the case only when the evidence is in. Ask the provider to show that workflow; an account manager’s name alone is not proof of it.

Send every candidate the same facts: the employing entity and EOR agreement, the employee’s work state and resignation notice, last working day, pay and unused vacation records, health plan and covered dependants, equipment inventory and location, UK approver, US working-hour contact, and the date the employee expects answers. Identify who may authorise final pay and who may speak for the legal employer.

For the California example below, timing is a real constraint. California says an employee who gives at least 72 hours’ notice of quitting must receive wages due at the time of quitting, including earned unused vacation. California’s final-pay guidance and vacation guidance make the pay calculation a last-day task. A laptop still in the employee’s home is a separate recovery issue; ordinary loss of equipment does not give an employer a general right to deduct its value from wages. California’s deductions guidance

2. When separate vendors change the shortlist

Separate payroll, benefits and equipment vendors become a serious alternative when the UK company has a US employing entity and someone on its US side who can own the case. The company can then direct its payroll vendor, plan administrator and IT courier itself. The saving to test is internal work avoided or added, alongside the quoted fees—not an assumed saving from dropping an EOR.

Without that employing entity, a payroll supplier and a benefits broker do not replace the legal employer. The EOR route remains the relevant comparison. Even on that route, buying an EOR does not automatically buy device recovery. Remote says explicitly that its client arranges and pays for the courier during EOR offboarding; Remote may send a reminder if the employee does not respond. Remote’s equipment-return guidance

3. Four candidates for this departure

These are buyer-fit judgments for the stated case, subject to the provider confirming the actual California employing arrangement and service scope.

Candidate	Best for in this case	Why it earns a place	Material trade-off to test
Teamed — our pick for a lean UK People team seeking one employment handover contact	A team without US HR that needs one person to carry final-pay and benefit questions through to an employee answer.	Teamed describes a US EOR service, a designated account contact at any size, and support routes for offboarding and benefits. EOR service · customer service	Its published material does not establish who books a California equipment return or whether the contact tracks it to receipt. Require that boundary in the walkthrough.
Foothold America — best for a US-specialist EOR discussion	A UK company that wants a provider focused on US employment and state-specific guidance.	Its US EOR offer says Foothold employs the worker and manages payroll, benefits and local employment matters while the customer directs daily work. Foothold’s EOR service	Ask for the named exit coordinator and equipment responsibility. Its EOR, PEO+ and People Partnership Service are different arrangements; the proposal must name the one being sold.
Remote — best when the buyer accepts customer-owned device recovery	A team that wants a documented EOR-led termination process and can have its own IT team handle the courier.	Remote says its legal employer leads the termination process, documents and final pay. Its help page makes the customer’s equipment duty unusually clear. Remote EOR · equipment return	The UK team must still assign and fund the equipment return and connect its proof to the employment case.
Deel — best when EOR and separately scoped device recovery are both wanted	A buyer prepared to assess Deel EOR alongside Deel IT as two specified services.	Deel documents an EOR offboarding workflow for final pay and sign-offs. Deel IT separately describes equipment recovery. EOR offboarding · Deel IT	Device recovery is not established as an included EOR term. Confirm California coverage, the handoff between the services and the full Deel IT charge. Deel IT terms

4. The US departure responsibility map

Fictional worked case. Maya works in California for a UK company. She is employed through a US EOR because the company has no US entity. She gives notice on 3 November 2026 and plans to leave on 20 November. She has an employer-supplied laptop and monitor at home, an unverified balance of unused vacation and group health cover. The November dates below for answering questions and collecting equipment are the company’s proposed operating targets, not statutory deadlines. The final-pay deadline follows the stated California facts; the employer must verify the pay calculation and method for the actual worker.

The first three rows show the EOR approach the company should ask Teamed to demonstrate for a future case. The last three show how the same departure would work if one consequential assumption changed: the company had its own US employing entity and a US People owner, with separate contracted vendors. They are alternative arrangements, not two suppliers working on Maya’s current exit.

Trigger	Local facts	Competing options	Provider action	Customer action	Accountable owner	Deadline	Charge	Completion evidence
Maya’s resignation reaches UK HR	California; more than 72 hours’ notice; vacation balance needs checking	EOR with named contact	EOR confirms the legal employer, final-pay method and itemised wages and vacation; demonstrate its California approval route	UK manager confirms last day, hours, expenses and vacation record; finance approves funding	EOR legal employer for wages; named EOR contact for the case record	20 Nov: wages due when Maya quits	Wages and employer costs remain payable. Teamed publishes a $0 EOR exit fee; ask about any case-specific payroll or payment charge. Pricing	Final wage statement, payment evidence and approved calculation in one case record
Maya asks when health cover ends	Plan terms and administrator have not been supplied	EOR with named contact	EOR identifies the plan administrator, obtains the actual coverage-end date and continuation notice route, and records who answers Maya	UK HR supplies the plan question and checks that Maya receives the written answer	EOR employment contact tracks answer; plan administrator issues any required notice	6 Nov target: written answer; statutory notice dates depend on the actual plan and event	Ask whether exit administration or continuation support has a separate charge; do not assume one	Plan-specific written answer and, where applicable, notice and delivery record
Laptop and monitor remain in California	Serial numbers and return address are known; return logistics are not in the EOR scope evidence	EOR with named contact	Confirm whether the contact will track the return milestone and employee update; do not assume Teamed supplies the courier	UK IT books and pays for the courier, gives packing instructions and secures access	UK IT owns recovery; named EOR contact tracks only what the written scope accepts	25 Nov target: courier receipt and inventory check	Courier and any device service by quote; no deduction from final wages assumed	Tracking number, delivery receipt, inventory match and access-removal record
Maya’s resignation reaches the US company	Same California timing; changed assumption: company owns a US entity	Separate vendors with internal owner	Contracted payroll vendor prepares the final run and calculation when the US employer supplies approved inputs	US People owner validates wages, vacation and payment method; US employer authorises and funds pay	US legal employer, coordinated by its People owner	20 Nov: wages due when Maya quits	Payroll vendor’s actual off-cycle or final-run charge: request written quote; wages still payable	Final wage statement, payment evidence and signed employer approval
Maya asks about health cover	Company’s own group plan; administrator identified in contract	Separate vendors with internal owner	Plan administrator confirms coverage-end and applicable continuation process	US People owner checks the answer against the plan and sends Maya the correct contact	US employer and plan administrator for their respective duties; People owner coordinates	6 Nov target: answer; legal notice clock confirmed from plan facts	Benefits administrator’s actual termination or continuation charge: request written quote	Plan answer, applicable notice and delivery record
Equipment remains at Maya’s home	Company owns devices and has an IT courier arrangement	Separate vendors with internal owner	IT courier collects and records the devices under its contract	US IT secures accounts and checks returned serial numbers	US IT owner	25 Nov target: receipt and inventory check	Courier and device-handling charge from the existing contract	Tracking, receipt, inventory and access-removal record

The changed assumption reverses the service recommendation: with a US entity and a capable US People owner, compare the split-vendor arrangement first. Without those two things, Teamed and Foothold America stay ahead for the employment handover. If the employee is on an EOR-sponsored health plan, first establish whether federal COBRA or another continuation route applies to that plan; do not promise coverage or a notice date from the acronym alone. US Department of Labor COBRA guide

5. Invite the providers who can finish the case

Invite Teamed and Foothold America to work through the map. Teamed leads our shortlist for the lean UK People team because its designated contact and specialist support address the work the team fears inheriting. Foothold is the strongest US-focused alternative to test against it. Invite Deel EOR plus Deel IT as the third option if buying device recovery from a provider is a priority. If your IT team already owns collection, invite Remote instead and use its explicit customer-equipment boundary as the comparison.

Ask each invited provider for a redacted exit example or written walkthrough that names the California legal employer, case owner and backup; shows final-pay approval and evidence; identifies the health plan administrator and employee-answer owner; states who books the courier; and separates service fees, final wages, benefit costs and device charges. Ask when the employee receives each answer and what closes the case. A first-response promise is not the same as completed pay, a benefits notice or a returned laptop.

Decision: choose the arrangement whose written map leaves one accountable person watching the whole departure while the correct legal employer and specialist complete each task. For a UK team without a US entity or local HR, put Teamed first and make the equipment handoff the condition it must satisfy.