AskAManager: my company is threatening to strand me out of town if I won’t work an extra day

DO NOT COMMENT ON LINKED POSTS (You can't anyway). I am NOT OP. Original post AskAManager

trigger warnings: >!None that I can think of, short!<

mood spoilers: >!Low stakes!<

my company is threatening to strand me out of town if I won’t work an extra day - July 2013

I submitted a 2-week notice to my employer, typed out and very professional. I specified in the letter when my last day would be, and everything seemed to be okay.

Well, they asked if I could go out of town and do a job my last week of work, and we clarified that I would be leaving the day my notice was up, because I would no longer be an employee of their company, and they said that was fine. Now they are telling me that I have to stay and work a day after my notice is up, and they say that if I leave any earlier than that, they’re going to take my company truck and I’ll have to find my own way home, even though my truck is still full of my tools and such.

Do they legally have to provide me with a ride home? Or are they allowed to take all my things and leave me stranded 7 hours from home?

Editor's note, Alison's advice not posted per her request. But she brought in an attorney for extra advice, so worth a read

update: my company is threatening to strand me out of town - October 2013

I talked with HR about everything my boss was doing and how he was threatening to take my things and leave me stranded and so they called him, and he was told that if he didn’t let me take my truck home that he had to provide me with a ride back to my house because it was requirements for my company.

He still went about 3 days without calling me, so I just left. I had written everything out in my two week notice, so I just took the chance. He didn’t say anything about me being in major trouble because he knew that I was done. They had me turn everything in to the local office, and when I did I had the manager sign a paper accounting for everything returned so if something was to go missing, I wouldn’t be at fault. It’s a good thing I did though, because my company iPhone randomly went missing, and even though they tried to say that I stole it, I had the signature to show otherwise. In the end, there was nothing that really ended too horribly. Just irritated that people in authoritative positions act so ridiculously.

Reminder - I am not the original poster.