[throwaway654123]

Yes. The frugality here is ridiculous. I work on device hardware/software. We need a lot of devices for testing. We have to buy them from the retail website.

And yesterday they sent out an email asking for help testing FireTV device on TV with certain specs, with a snarky comment about how you cannot expense a TV. It's completely ridiculous. If they need to test with particular hardware they need to buy the hardware and not rely on using their employees personal TV.

That reminds me, they are always asking to use employees cars for bluetooth testing with device as well.

[lordleft]

Is that...legal? I mean I feel like requiring employees to source hardware you need to do your job would violate some statute, somewhere.

[abalashov]

No, it's not illegal, as long as nothing in one's employment agreement prohibits it. What's more, many category of umreimbursed work expenses are tax-deductible for W-2 employees, for precisely the reason that they commonly arise.