At the start of my employment, a few years ago, at a small company, I was given a brand-new MacBook Pro to work with (not that I asked for it, it was just provided to me).
I was never told anything regarding the property policy for the company, nor is it really covered in my contract. For all I knew, my boss could have just handed me a MacBook Pro as a gift…
Fast-forward about a year, the laptop completely stops working. There was absolutely no apparent cause for the breakage, and when I took it to the Apple store they claimed there were signs of water damage and I would have to pay over £1000 to get it fixed (I had never had any liquid near the laptop, so not sure how that would happen).
I contacted my boss when the laptop broke, explained the situation and in short he replied with ‘what has this got to do with me, I don’t care’.
I required this laptop to actually do my job (I work remotely), forcing me to go massively out-of-pocket to buy myself a new laptop to work with.
Fast forward another year, and after handing in my notice, my boss wants to know how I can pay to replace the £2000 MacBook they ‘loaned’ to me.
What rights do I have in this situation?
I can’t really afford to replace an expensive laptop at the moment, my boss didn’t even care at the time the breakage occurred, nor offered a replacement or solution of any kind.
Will I just need to find a way to pay it back, or is my boss just trying his luck with me?
Appreciate your advice! Thanks.