Neil asked:

Is an employer obligated by law to replace a pay cheque lost at the workplace before the employee saw it?

Marilyn Blackwood answered:

I am not aware of any legislation that would allow the employer to refuse to reissue a lost cheque. If the cheque has not been cashed then the employer must stop payment on the cheque and reissue it, as the employee has not in effect received his pay.

If this became a repeat occurrence the employer could deduct the cost of the stop payment from the employee for his carelessness but this would certainly not be something I would recommend. The bad feelings would far out-weigh the small cost of a stop payment.

In the reverse, if the company received a cheque from one of their customers and it was lost or destroyed, would they not expect it to be replaced?

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