TLDR; Company didn't tell me that I needed to use my personal laptop (w/ VPN and remote desktop) for my new remote job, which started on 5/2. When I told them I couldn't use mine (notified them before the start date), they sent me a wiped laptop that never arrived (delivery link says delayed for a week). They know this, and now they're saying that I need to find a way to connect to their VPN by tomorrow or they'll terminate me. I had offered to push my start date to after the laptop issue was sorted, but they said no — I was supposed to receive my first paycheck on 5/13, but I haven't, and I'm worried that they're going to withhold my income even though they told me that I would be paid despite knowing I didn't have the laptop yet. My questions are:
(1) Can they terminate me for-cause when they never sent me the essential tools I needed, and would I not qualify for unemployment? I live in Illinois, even though the job is in Ohio.
(2) If they withhold my income from the first 10 days of work, is there anything I can do about it? I read online that federal law only requires employers to compensate minimum wage for hours worked and that's all I'd be guaranteed to receive, even if my offer letter stated my salary.
(3) Is my frustration here fair? Like, would it be reasonable for them to expect me to just use my own computer for this job even if they didn't say that during the hiring process?
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I recently accepted a data science job offer from a large hospital, where I would be working with sensitive data. They advertised the position as remote friendly, and sent me an offer letter (I did not sign a contract, since I thought it best to keep things as flexible as possible). They were aware that I would be working 100% remotely.
It is standard in data science (unless you're part of a very small non-profit or start-up) to receive your computer equipment from the employer (most data scientists need a laptop at the least, and many also receive monitors or docking systems), so this is what I expected in this position. A couple of days before my scheduled start date, I realized that they had never formally told me that they were sending me any equipment. I reached out and asked, and they said that they expected me to use a VPN and Remote Desktop to connect to their on-campus computers for the job (without ever clarifying whether I had the tools to do this myself), and that he could give me a $100 Amazon gift card to “furnish my office”. He reassured me that this setup was perfectly safe, though the security configuration stuff isn't my purview.
My computer sucks and wouldn't function properly for this, and beyond that, I wasn't comfortable with the idea of using my personal computer for work in any sense ($100 wouldn't make a dent in the cost of a new one). I (politely) told my boss that I couldn't use a personal computer and needed a company laptop for the job, and that the job description never said that I would be expected to furnish my own equipment. He said that they could send me a retired 2-3 year old laptop as a “gift” – which I found strange because it felt like they were trying to dissociate themselves from the computer and made me worried about liability working with sensitive data. He added that the entire thing had been wiped and I would be expected to install a new operating system myself (specifically, Microsoft 10 and would need to purchase the $150 license); IT also said that sending me a fully set up company laptop would not be the “best use of resources”. I asked them if I would be reimbursed for this, and whether the Amazon gift card could be put towards this instead, and my boss said I should be happy I'm getting a free laptop and that I should offer them flexibility because they had been flexible with me working two positions at the same time (they made the conscious choice to hire me, knowing that upfront). He rescinded the $100 offer and said he'd “try” to lump the reimbursement into my signing bonus, which I declined because that can be retracted if I leave within a year of my hire – but I said I would do my best to install a free operating system and let them know how that goes, and they agreed. I told them that I'm also happy to push my start date (5/2) to after the laptop issue had been resolved, and they said no, and that they would still pay me and I could focus on other tasks in the meantime (like onboarding, research, and reviewing SQL).
The laptop was supposed to arrive on 5/6, but it never did and the tracking link says “delayed” indefinitely. It's been over a week now and boss is saying that I have to find a way to connect to the VPN tomorrow, or they'll terminate me, unless I choose to move to Ohio for the job instead. I also checked Workday and saw that I was supposed to be paid on 5/13, but I never received the deposit and I'm worried they'll try to withhold it. Can they terminate me for-cause when they never sent me the essential tools I needed, and can they legally withhold my income from the first week even though they knew that I didn't receive the laptop from them?