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If an employee is signed off from work by a doctor and is currently holding equipment owned by either his employer or one of his employer's customers, it seems perfectly reasonable to me to ask for this equipment back (for example, if it needs to be repaired and this is delaying it, thus making the employer look bad and failing SLAs with the customer).

Is it legally acceptable to contact the employee to ask to arrange to collect it? By a similar token, where does the employer stand with other company owned equipment he is in posession of, such as his laptop, mobile phone or his company car (which is leased by the company)?

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    @Lag People ask about what are clearly real-life situations here all the time. I doubt most questions would be asked out of idle curiosity, so let's not kid ourselves. My company will pay for legal advice if it feel it's needed (I'm sure we have a legal representative on retainer). I am not in a position to force or prevent this action, I am merely asking for confirmation of something that our MD/HR manager believes to be true.
    – Darren
    Commented May 7 at 11:41
  • @Lag. Better???
    – Darren
    Commented May 7 at 11:50
  • I wonder, would "handing the equipment back" be considered a work-related activity?
    – o.m.
    Commented May 7 at 16:29
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    @Barmar Yes, it seems obvious from the context I thought, but being signed off means you are given a “sick note” from the doctor and are not required to work for a period of time. The query is, that when an employee is off sick, they shouldn’t be contacted by the employer (except perhaps for a welfare check) and certainly shouldn’t be asked or pressured into working. Does asking for them to return equipment count?
    – Darren
    Commented May 8 at 7:05
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    @Barmar I’m not sure you’re understanding. It’s not about their ability to return it, it’s whether this could be construed as asking them to work/is in any way related to working which could be against the law. Remember, Europe has much stronger employee protection than the US.
    – Darren
    Commented May 8 at 21:17

1 Answer 1

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If the company owns something it can ask to have it back to fix it, of course.

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    Do you have any citation for this assertion?
    – TripeHound
    Commented May 7 at 17:18
  • @TripeHound what would you like? Do you think there is a specific go get your stuff back law?
    – Mimedfp
    Commented May 7 at 17:25
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    I've no idea, and neither, presumably, does the OP. A good answer will say (with references) whether there is or not.
    – TripeHound
    Commented May 7 at 17:41
  • There are not a lot of references for going to get something to have it fixed. It is just assumed, unless their is some other circumstance. @TripeHound
    – Mimedfp
    Commented May 7 at 17:49
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    @TripeHound & Minedfp, the "getting it fixed" bit is, I suppose, a bit of a red herring. Is it OK to ask for any company-owned equipment back, regardless of its state of repair.
    – Darren
    Commented May 7 at 19:19

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