Work laptop stolen, boss is making me pay for replacement

[Anonymous]

Bottom line; employers can pretty much do whatever they want. So, sure, you have to pay for it.

My employer makes us buy the laptop, buy the smartphone, pay the data plan and they don't pay for us to drive to our client sites. Why? Because they can do whatever they want.

[Anonymous]

Why don't you have car insurance

[Anonymous]

What do u do if u have a hatchback?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What do u do if u have a hatchback?

For my hatchback (Prius), we have a cloth shield that attaches to the car and you can pull it across the opening so that nothing underneath is visible. Looks like this:


If you don't have something like this, I suggest that you get some sort of opaque box that you can put objects in, even a blanket through over object that will conceal what they are. Unknown, possibly empty boxes are much less appealing than a known electronic item sitting there visible.

[Anonymous]

Ouch. Would renter's or car ins. cover it?

[Anonymous]

hahahhaha. Sorry OP, you're at fault here. Pay up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was made to take an NIH online course (I don't work at nih) that stated that if I'm planning on leaving my laptop in the car unattended, it has to be placed in the trunk before leaving home/work and can't be placed in trunk upon my arrival to a non-home non-work location. So, that's even more strict... But, truly, I think you are responsible since you left it visible. It's pretty much common sense to secure valuables in your car. Would you ever leave your handbag visible?

Totally different. Based on taking the course, NIH can now discipline you for "breaking the rules" related to laptops. They can't/won't force you to pay for the loss of a laptop through theft or negligence.

OP, I find this very odd as an employment lawyer. Likely your employer writes off theft or has insurance. What is the actual loss to them? I think you need to ask. Also, what are you paying (amount for the laptrop)? Because if your employer took you to court, they would not get replacement value. They would get reasonable value based on age and wear to laptop.

This is very, very, odd in an employer/agent context. The biggest concern to your employer should be data risk/threat based on the loss of the laptop and informing clients/employees of data breach. If the employer wants to discipline you for violating policies related to not securing company policy or fire you, okay, that's valid. But making you pay for the laptop is bizarre.

[Anonymous]

Shouldn't your car insurance cover that? My boyfriend's sister who works for DOJ had her work laptop stolen when her old car was broken into and her insurance paid for a new one, along with all of her other stuff (including the back window glass that the guy broke to get to her stuff).

[Anonymous]

I work in a place where you would be fired for not securing company property or confidential data. Be happy you're only out $1k.

[Anonymous]

Car insurance does not cover stuff in the car, just the car itself. So if the door lock or window was broken, yes. Loose change, iPods, phones, chargers, work laptop, no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work in a place where you would be fired for not securing company property or confidential data. Be happy you're only out $1k.

+1000

[Anonymous]

Ask for proof of the loss estimate from their insurance or something like that. Also try to look online for a used version. These likely don't go for a grand anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was made to take an NIH online course (I don't work at nih) that stated that if I'm planning on leaving my laptop in the car unattended, it has to be placed in the trunk before leaving home/work and can't be placed in trunk upon my arrival to a non-home non-work location. So, that's even more strict... But, truly, I think you are responsible since you left it visible. It's pretty much common sense to secure valuables in your car. Would you ever leave your handbag visible?

Totally different. Based on taking the course, NIH can now discipline you for "breaking the rules" related to laptops. They can't/won't force you to pay for the loss of a laptop through theft or negligence.

OP, I find this very odd as an employment lawyer. Likely your employer writes off theft or has insurance. What is the actual loss to them? I think you need to ask. Also, what are you paying (amount for the laptrop)? Because if your employer took you to court, they would not get replacement value. They would get reasonable value based on age and wear to laptop.

This is very, very, odd in an employer/agent context. The biggest concern to your employer should be data risk/threat based on the loss of the laptop and informing clients/employees of data breach. If the employer wants to discipline you for violating policies related to not securing company policy or fire you, okay, that's valid. But making you pay for the laptop is bizarre.

+1. I think it is very odd that your employer is asking you to pay for the laptop. The data on the laptop is the real concern, not the hardware itself typically. I have been through this twice in my career and neither employee had to compensate the company for the laptop. One employee was reprimanded for the data breach- but there were no monetary consequences. The other had no consequences whatsoever. If I lost my laptop-- or it was stolen I am confident that there would be no consequences. Your employer is going to write off the cost of the laptop or submit to insurance. A court of law would only compensate your company for the value of the computer at the time (probably not that much-- esp. if the computer is a year or two old). Find a new job, you work for a douchebag.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bottom line; employers can pretty much do whatever they want. So, sure, you have to pay for it.

My employer makes us buy the laptop, buy the smartphone, pay the data plan and they don't pay for us to drive to our client sites. Why? Because they can do whatever they want.

Sounds like your job sucks.

[Anonymous]

What kinds of employers above are requiring the employee to pay? Government? Contractors? Other?

Also, these companies that reprimand employees for a data breach -- having some employee lose a laptop someday is a completely foreseeable problem. If you ask employees to take the laptop home, it's going to happen eventually. The company should be using full-disk encryption if there is sensitive data on anybody's hard drive.