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Can a company force an ee to use ....

lnelsonlnelson 670 Posts
in HR & Employment Law Vote Up0Vote Down
...their own personal computer to do work for them?

Situation: My cousin put in 2 wk notice and the company is upset about it. One of the reasons he is quitting is they are not providing the equipment necessary to do the work. They have asked him to use his personal laptop to do their work on. He agreed to this for a 1 week period. Now the second and final week of his employ and they are asking him if he plans on working or not to complete the project. He has asked them if they have a workspace that he can use, they do not respond. This company has been in business for approx 5 yrs. He has an employee handbook but it does not address this issue.

Also they will not reimburse him for the use of his equipment.

Any responses welcome.
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Comments

  • 4 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • TN HRTN HR 1,170 Posts
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    I would say that on it's face, the answer would be no, they cannot force him to. I have a few questions that may help shed some light on this:

    1-Was the expectation set at some point that use of personal equipment was required?

    2-Is it customary and accepted for his profession/industry to require this? An example of this would be an industrial journeyman maintenance electrician having, and using, his own test equipment at work.

    3-What is your cousin proposing as a reasonable compromise? What about the employer?

    Thanks,

    Gene
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  • Don DDon D 9,834 Posts
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    The answers are irrelevant. They attempted to take advantage of him, he decides to quit, he should move on and forget it.
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  • JudithJudith 65 Posts
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    "they are asking him if he plans on working or not to complete the project"

    Is he an employee or a contractor? based upon the question above I would think he is a contractor -- as an employee why would they even ask the question. If he is an employee I agree with Don he should move on and let the company worry about their "project". If he doesn't agree to use his equipment what are they going to do fire him??
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  • marcmarc 3,126 Posts
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    Seems to me there must be a few other issues circling this one. I have never been required to use my PCs, except when I hung my shingle, but have nevertheless (one word?) used them extensively for every employer. Often it is easier to accomplish certain tasks at home. Let's face it, a week or two on a PC is unlikely to significantly depreciate it's value or cause major maintenance and repair.

    This all leads me to believe there must be other issues.

    As to completing the project, if it could have been done in the one week limit set, and could be completed during the notice period, what is the big deal? He is being paid for the week - he owes them some work for the pay.

    Just my opinion.
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