In article , JTMcC says...

Your boss may indeed be a total idiot, but you guys need a better
understanding of liability, because that is the driving force behind this
type of decision. The idiots and their lawyers ruin it for everybody. But
I'm not going to allow a scum lawyer and a jury that thinks everyone that
owns a business has unlimited millions to take away everything I have worked
for over the last 12 or so years, and put me and my family in the poorhouse.
Even if that means looking like a dope to an employee who doesn't understand
the reasons behind the (seemingly meaningless) policy. Too bad about the
machine tho.

As has been mentioned already, many companies have 'bright line'
policies about taking stuff home, for various reasons. A former
boss told me once that a major route for theft to occur in small
businesses is via the trash. Items are disguised and hidden
in the dumpster, and retrieved by a confederate at the hauling
company.

This having been said, a) I don't think he was trying to
clandestinely spirit a milling machine away, and b) it sounds
like the boss was being a bit of a royal prick. If I had
to let somebody down on this, I would take him aside and
explain exactly why company policy would not allow me to
give the machine away, no matter *how* much I wanted to give
it to him.

Also I would point out that the same boss who explained
the dumpster thing to me, saw to it that the foreman at
the time was able to personally purchase their used
bridgeport for 800 bucks - which I thought was a very
fair deal for all parties, on both sides. The boss there
was a very, very reasonable man.

Jim

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