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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
    Posts
    1

    Angry Can Your Employer Take Your Cell Phone During Work Hours if You Use it Against Policy

    My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: New York.

    The retail company I work for has a no cell phone use policy on the sales floor, which is fine and understandable. If you are caught using a cell phone, the managers or loss prevention officer will confiscate the phone until your shift is over. My questions are:

    1. Is it an abuse of power to confiscate the phone of an employee who was no longer on the clock? In this instance, the employee's shift had ended, he left the phone at the counter (hidden, it was not in plain view) while he was shopping within the store.

    2. Can the phone be taken without first informing the employee (especially the employee mentioned above who was no longer on the clock) that the phone is being confiscated?

    I strongly suspect harassment of this employee. He seems to be singled out (not just in this instance). He is a minority and is gay. Other employees continuously and obviously break this rule and other rules and they suffer no consequences.

    Thank you

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    24,521

    Default Re: Loss Prevention Officer's Abuse of Power

    You're not asking the right question. The answers to the questions you have asked are:

    1) No

    2) Yes

    This assumes that the employees are aware of the policy you mention in your first sentence.

    The question you should be asking is, Can an employee be singled out for enforcement of policies that other employees are not held to? The answer to that question is, Yes, unless the employee is being singled out BECAUSE OF their race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation etc.

    Now, my question to you is, who are you in this scenario? It makes a difference how I recommend you proceed. (NOTE: this is not being asked as a mind-your-own-business response; I have specific suggestions as to how you can best help the employee but which one is best for you to use depends on whether you are co-worker, manager, family member, etc.)

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Posts
    16,474

    Default Re: Loss Prevention Officer's Abuse of Power

    Quote Quoting cbg
    View Post
    You're not asking the right question. The answers to the questions you have asked are:

    1) No

    2) Yes

    This assumes that the employees are aware of the policy you mention in your first sentence.

    The question you should be asking is, Can an employee be singled out for enforcement of policies that other employees are not held to? The answer to that question is, Yes, unless the employee is being singled out BECAUSE OF their race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation etc.

    Now, my question to you is, who are you in this scenario? It makes a difference how I recommend you proceed. (NOTE: this is not being asked as a mind-your-own-business response; I have specific suggestions as to how you can best help the employee but which one is best for you to use depends on whether you are co-worker, manager, family member, etc.)
    I will also add...if the employee was off the clock and shopping, why in the WORLD did the employee not have his/her phone on his/her person?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    24,521

    Default Re: Loss Prevention Officer's Abuse of Power

    And I should also add: I don't think we have enough information to conclusively state that the employee in question is being discriminated against. But before we go into the likelihood of that (and I'm not saying absolutely either way; it might be, it might not be) I want the answer to my question.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Posts
    18,340

    Default Re: Loss Prevention Officer's Abuse of Power

    Quote Quoting llworking
    View Post
    I will also add...if the employee was off the clock and shopping, why in the WORLD did the employee not have his/her phone on his/her person?
    Stupidity would be my guess.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Behind a Desk
    Posts
    98,846

    Default Re: Can Your Employer Take Your Cell Phone During Work Hours if You Use it Against Po

    Quote Quoting lisamarie7
    View Post
    In this instance, the employee's shift had ended, he left the phone at the counter (hidden, it was not in plain view) while he was shopping within the store.
    Then your question has absolutely nothing to do with the policy on the use of cell phones at work.

    It appears that somebody found your friend's cell phone, perhaps after it rang or buzzed, and turned it in as lost or misplaced property. There is absolutely nothing wrong with safeguarding items of property that appear to be lost by having loss prevention put them in an appropriate, more secure location. As your friend was not on-the-job he was free to get his phone from loss prevention the moment he chose to ask for it, and if he got scolded for leaving his cell phone in an inappropriate, unauthorized location that would be because he left his cell phone in an inappropriate, unauthorized location.
    Quote Quoting lisamarie7
    Can the phone be taken without first informing the employee....
    If he was standing right by the counter and said, "Hey, that's my cell phone," he presumably would have received his cell phone, perhaps with the instruction that he should be more careful with his property. As he apparently was not there, while it is cute that you think that the person who found the phone should have instantly known to whom it belonged, and that LP staff should have scoured the store and surrounding areas looking for your friend before taking it to their office, no, they had no obligation to do that.

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