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Comment by sonicanatidae | Hacker News Reader

That has not matched my experience at all, either.

Sure, some laptops never seem to make it back, but generally, their last paycheck isn't released until the gear is back and checked.

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That's illegal in the US [1] and it's just the same in Europe. You can't go and withhold payment for work done - what you can do is file a claim in small claims or civil court, depending on the worth of the laptop.

[1] https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/hr-...

Yes, that's illegal, but a good chunk of my lay-off severance pay -- which was about 45 days later -- was subject to me sending my laptop back.

They didn't ask for my monitor or my polycom though.

Beyond returning your laptop, severance pay has a few more strings attached, like waiving your right to sue. But, everything is negotiable.

Severance pay is not last-paycheck pay. Paycheck pay is for work already performed. Severance is (in the US) generally down to agreement between an employer and employee (and the employer normally dictates the terms because the employee in most cases lacks a bargaining position) or as a way to comply with laws mandating notice periods for layoffs.

> That's illegal in the US [1] and it's just the same in Europe.

Wage theft is illegal in the US but is extremely popular, profitable and largely goes unpunished.

https://www.epi.org/press/wage-theft-costs-american-workers-...

By dollar value it is the largest category of theft in the USA, more than robbery, burglary, embezzling, all that stuff. And yet it barely even gets talked about, even though the perpetrators are in plain sight. Meanwhile someone breaks into a house to steal some ipads and gets 10 years.

I've never seen it and I've managed teams for 35+ years now.

To be fair, 99% of the emps just return the gear. It's only a few chuckleheads, and in the end, they kept the gear and the employer kept the check.

I'm not arguing your interpretation, I'm simply stating that it doesn't happen like that in the real world.

My partner just got a new thinkpad for her part-time job in germany at a fairly big science institute and was told that she can keep it when her job is done. I was suprised too.

Now that's cool. Kudos to the Big German Science Institute!

Everyone needs a computer of some sort to make their way through this world. I refurb old gear and donate it those without for that very reason.

That and I absolutely hate to see working gear go to waste. Yes, it's slow, but I can guarantee it'll be much faster than yelling 1s and 0s out the window. :)

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