I just got a call from a former employer, newspaper that said I cant display my work that I did while under there employ. Now, the work is on my website as sample work and not for sale. Can they tell me that I have to take it down?
That would depend on your employment agreement but in general terms yes they can, in the US it is called work for hire and unless you had special arrangements with them they own anything you did while you were photographing during normal working hours. Perhaps you could entice them to leave them to let you leave the material on your site with a logo or notation that it is from their paper.
