Employer Policies and Teleworking

[scottmeador]

I work from home most of the time. The teleworking agreement that we sign states that all policies apply during working hours. My employer has a no firearms policy in the "workplace" and they consider our entire home to be such during working hours. They also reserve the right to knock on the front door and inspect our "workplace".

Is it valid under law or regulation for the employer to extend the no firearms policy to a teleworkers "workplace"?

Our facilities are 30.06 posted so I follow the law and policy when at the real office, but I don't think that it is right for them to extend the policy to include our homes.

[Teamless]

they cant extend 30,06 to your home, but they can make policies
However, i would contend that in your home, the only are that is work related is the desk you work at.
So leave the gun on the table just off the side of the desk.

[Dave2]

I work from home most of the time. The teleworking agreement that we sign states that all policies apply during working hours. My employer has a no firearms policy in the "workplace" and they consider our entire home to be such during working hours. They also reserve the right to knock on the front door and inspect our "workplace".

Is it valid under law or regulation for the employer to extend the no firearms policy to a teleworkers "workplace"?

Dunno about any laws, but I wouldn't pay attention to it, personally. If they really think they can tell me I can't have my gun with me in my own home... Well, someone's going to be disappointed. I'll do my best to accommodate their weird work requirements, but it's my home is my castle, not theirs.

[goose]

I have to believe that this is the company's easiest way of saying that they expect you to behave professionally when working from home. Have decent clothes on if doing a video conference, be polite on the phone, etc. I suspect this also includes business lunches you may attend leaving from home.

How would they police all of the other things included in the policy? Most corps have knife policies. No one is expecting you to toss out your steak knives for being too big. Well, no rational person. Behave well and I don't see how your accessories at home would ever become an issue.

[TexasCajun]

Sounds like an unenforceable policy to me (usual disclaimers apply). But if you are concerned, then maintain your own "concealed = concealed" policy & install a small inexpensive camera at your front door so you can see who's knocking before answering.

[dicion]

It's a policy. Not the law, Plain and simple.

I could make a theoretical company, and make a policy that every employee has to wear green socks. But it's not illegal to disobey the policy, it can only get you fired.

Can they come to your house and say it's policy they can inspect? Sure, they can say that. You can also tell them no, they can't come in. After which all they can say is 'you're fired' and then leave.

[RottenApple]

Apple had the same policies when I worked for them (At Home Advisor Program). I ignored it and carried while sitting in my home office. My house, my rules.

[seamusTX]

..."workplace" and they consider our entire home to be such during working hours.

My advice: Polish your résumé and get a job with a company run by SANE PEOPLE.

There are all kinds of regulations applicable to workplaces that make no sense for people working at home. You aren't supposed to have lighted exit signs, sprinklers, fire alarms, an evacuation plan posted in each room, etc. You aren't supposed to have handicap parking, wheelchair ramps, or ADA-accessible bathrooms (unless someone in your household actually needs them).

FWIW, I have been working at home for several large companies since the 1990s. They were run by mature adults whose only concern was that I did my job.

- Jim

[bdickens]

Good Lord! Really?

[seamusTX]

I don't doubt it.

After reading this thread, I recalled an incident in the 1980s, when sexual harassment started to be a concern. There was some court ruling that pin-ups and calendars with models in swimsuits constituted sexual harassment. One of the HR morons at the company that I worked for at the time went around after work hours and confiscated every photo that had a woman in it—including personal photos of wives and girlfriends.

- Jim

[Panda]

They probably have a policy against drinking on the job. In both cases, they can fire you if you get caught.

[JKTex]

You also may want to look in to exactly what they can and cannot inspect. They don't get to take over your home just because you work out of it.

In reality, I'm guessing it's one of those "policies" that no one ever thought through and realized needs to be worded differently with home workers....or realized it and knows what a PITA it would be to rewrite, and that it'll never be an issue anyway.

[seamusTX]

You also may want to look in to exactly what they can and cannot inspect. They don't get to take over your home just because you work out of it.

They can inspect anything that they want to, and you give them permission to. There is not a lot of case law on this.

At one time there were state laws about working at home and piece-work schemes, which were intended to prevent fraud. There were scams in which employers would get contract workers to buy material—mostly textiles—and then reject all the work that people did because of "substandard quality."

That is pretty much a thing of the past.

When professional people started to work at home, the HR morons came up with all kinds of hypothetical scenarios like whether a home worker could collect workers comp if he fell down the stairs or was injured in a fire in his own home. To the best of my knowledge, nothing like that has ever happened.

All these issues are little bureaucratic Napoleons trying to control other people, paraphrasing something I read a long time ago, a size 10 ego in a size 1 soul.

- Jim

[GrillKing]

A company with enough employees to go around to home offices looking for absurd policy violations should consider getting rid of that deadwood making those inspections and enjoying the improved profit that action would bring.

[alvins]

i would never let me boss come inspect my house.sounds like a place i used to work and they were a terible employer.