Company Laptop, My Data — Can They Co-exist?

An anonymous reader writes "I recently replaced my old laptop. The owner of my company heard about this and offered to reimburse me for it, since he knows I have and will continue to do company work on my own hardware. I'd like the extra $1,250, but I think if I accept his offer that legally he has the right to any data on it (personal emails, files, blog posts, etc.). Even if I decide to put my personal stuff on a second drive, I'm worried that using company property to save and write to separate storage still gives them the right to it. The apps (Office, etc.) are my own licenses. We do not have a policy that intellectual property developed using company assets belongs to the company. But, if I figured out the One Great Internet Business Idea or write the Great American Novel and used the company laptop to do it, it's an avenue they could use to claim they own it. Unlikely, but scary. How many Slashdotters have been in this situation, and what agreement did you and your management come up with?"

Comments

Have them make it a bonus

[Binestar]

If they just want to reward you for working on your own hardware, a bonus is the way to go.

Re:Have them make it a bonus

[truthsearch]

Exactly. We've done this at my company. Take the laptop or cash as part of compensation and there will be no legal issues because it will become a personal possession and not the company's. Get it in writing so there's no debate.

In the poster's particular case, receive the $1250 as a simple bonus. Have them write a letter backing that up.

Re:Have them make it a bonus

[ThrowAwaySociety]

Exactly. Your company has three options.

1. A payment in the amount of the computer. It goes not your income taxes as a bonus.
2. They transfer ownershhip to you. It goes on your income taxes as non-cash compensation for the value of the computer. It is your property afterwards; they can't take it back when you quit.
3. They issue you a company laptop. It remains their property; if you quit, you have to return it.

For 1 and 2, the computer is yours, and you can do whatever you like. Just like your car and your TV, which were purchased with money from your paycheck. The company has no say in what you do with the computer afterwards. You could even immediately sell them on eBay (though they'd probably be unhappy and demand the money back, and might fire you if you refused to pay them.)

For 3, you shouldn't do anything personal on it, nor should you install any of your own licensed software on it..

Re:Have them make it a bonus

[iamhassi]

"I recently replaced my old laptop. The owner of my company heard about this and offered to reimburse me for it, since he knows I have and will continue to do company work on my own hardware. I'd like the extra $1,250, but I think if I accept his offer that legally he has the right to any data on it "

No, why did you think that? They didn't buy the laptop for you and hand it to you and say "this is your company laptop", you bought a laptop yourself, put all of your own software and hardware into it, and the company offered to reimburse you for it. Did they say "this is now our laptop, and when/if you leave it's ours"? I'd get it in writing just to make sure, I could see that as being a potential problem, especially if they document it somewhere "reimburse XYZ for laptop", someone might come looking for it someday.

"receive the $1250 as a simple bonus. Have them write a letter backing that up."

Agreed. Helps the company really because they don't have to pay for the software or worry about licensing, if you have unlicensed software on there they can say "Really? We wouldn't know, it's not company property."

In fact I'd approach it like that, I'd tell'em "Hey Boss just to make the paperwork easier so you don't have to keep track of the Office, Vista, Photoshop, etc licenses on my laptop can we write it up as a $1250 bonus? That way there isn't a $1250 check for a laptop and the company would not be responsible for keeping track of the software licenses."

Re:Have them make it a bonus

[ottothecow]

There isn't a lot of information but unless there are strings specifically attatched to the reimbursement, it is just that--a reimbursement.

I imagine this is quite similar to employers who do mobile phone or internet reimbursements in that they are offering it as a benefit and there is no transfer in ownership (though there may be some assumption of increased availability to work outside the office). When an employer reimburses you for personal vehicle use, they aren't claiming ownership on anything in your car...

Easy Solution

[eldavojohn]

Unlikely, but scary.

Your fears are not unfounded. As someone who has had "e-mail forensics" done on his company's MS Exchange during an investigation of a coworker, I can assure you that while it may not be something that you've done to trigger this it does happen. And nobody wants to be in a compromising position should their relationship with their employer goes bad.

So your solution is simple: send him an e-mail explaining that this new laptop is going to function as your main personal laptop with family photos and videos and whatnot. Tell him that you'd love to accept the $1,250 as an award or included with your next paycheck as special compensation but the laptop won't be inventoried or tagged by the company. Make it clear it's your property and not a company asset. Offer to bring in the invoice for him to look at if he's concerned you're buying a car with it instead and get it in writing. If you get the money awarded to you to do with as you see fit but you have an informal agreement that this will go toward your personal laptop, everything should be fine.

Re:Easy Solution

[Anonymous Cowar]

Speaking as someone with experience in the digital forensics field (and I have personally done far more than e-mail forensics mentioned above), if the courts find out that you do company work on your personal laptop, you are a subpoena away from having to produce it, with or without the $1,250 bonus. If you brought a personal external hard drive into work one day and someone saw you use it, you could have to produce that. Depending on how good your lawyer is compared to theirs, you may be able to have your personal items undergo a privilege process, but that doesn't mean that some forensics expert isn't going to be taking a complete copy of your hard drive and presenting findings about (but not the actual relevant data until approved or ordered by the courts) your laptop usage.

Essentially if you get sued by your employer, it looks better if you just spread em wide and hope for the vaseline. There is no 'innocent until proven guilty' in civil courts, it's all about the 'preponderance of evidence' which means that if you can't say more about your innocence than they can about you're guilt, you're guilty.

Re:slashdot is not your lawyer

[Hork_Monkey]

You need to ask a lawyer.

Please mod this up. Asking legal questions on an Slashdot forum is like asking 4chan for relationship advice.

Re:What tracking is on your laptop???

[MyLongNickName]

Aren't they cute when they are young and so naïve?

Re:slashdot is not your lawyer

[tepples]

Asking legal questions on an Slashdot forum is like asking 4chan for relationship advice.

I see legal questions in Ask Slashdot as more of a "What should I know before talking to a lawyer?" type of question.

Re:slashdot is not your lawyer

[Anonymous Coward]

Funny, I see asking 4chan for relationship advice as more of a "What should I know before talking to a lawyer?" type of question.

Re:Simple...

[cmdr_tofu]

Hmm when our coworkers leave we usually get together after work for pizza and beer to see them off. I guess some work environments are less friendly than others.