Carry at work

[sjfcontrol]

I made the assumption that my company banned carrying at work, so I did not even look through the employee handbook because I assumed I would be prohibited. I found it today, and wanted input on what I found:

> Possessing weapons on company presises, in company vehicles or while on company business, except and only to the extent that you are entitled to possess such a weapon under applicable state or federal law and/or authorized in writing by the Chief Security Officer. Weapons include but are not limited to, firearms and dangerous or deadly weapons, including explosive devices,, stun gun or any other item a reasonable person might consider a dangerous weapon.

Am I reading this right? I am not a lawyer, so I don't know if "entitled" = "licensed"? The "and/or" would lead me to believe that "licensed" would make it not necessary to get writen authorization by the "cheif security officer"

Am I off base here, or is this saying I can carry at work?

You can carry IF you have a letter in writting from the CSO. The and/or has to be met.

Keith is correct. Here's why.
except and only to the extent that you are entitled to possess such a weapon under applicable state or federal law and authorized in writing by the Chief Security Officer
or
authorized in writing by the Chief Security Officer.

The and/or creates two conditions. 1) You are entitled by law and you are authorized in writing or 2) You are not entitled by law but you are authorized in writing.

Hmm, never thought of it that way. HOWEVER, if thats the way you read it, then the "entitled by law" part is redundant and meaningless. Most interpretations would require the statement to be interpreted such that all clauses are meaningful.

The more logical way to read it is that the "and/or" conjunction creates two logical combinations between the clauses on either side of if. Thus reading 1) "entitled by law OR authorized by CSO -- or -- 2) "entitled by law AND authorized by CSO". (Which makes the CSO clause irrelevant.)

Looks like all that can be determined from this statement is that it's ambiguous. Ambiguous statements are interpreted AGAINST the interests of the party that authored the statement.

(Yeah, yeah, IANAL and all that)

[speedsix]

...if you're not permitted by law...the CSO won't give you permission...and they'll fire you and/or burn you...
...if you are permitted by law...the CSO won't give you permission...and now they know you have one so they'll be buggin' you to see if it's on you...in your desk...in your car....
...they got you coming and going if they don't want you to carry...


...therefore, if I'm legal to carry...and it's concealed...and they're not posted according to law...I won't bring it up and ask permission/approval, thereby giving them the opportunity to warn me...but if there's an employee handbook that you sign a sheet saying you read and will abide by....they've still got you....
...I love working with a partner...instead of a company...

[Warhammer]

From the Duhaim.org Legal Dictionary:

"And/or" means any combination of two options; one, the other (either), or both.
In law, it is synonynmous with "or" which is taken to mean the same thing, and which is a preferred term for the concept of "either or both", which and/or attempts to convey.

From other various sources:

Yourdictionary.com:
Used to indicate that either or both of the items connected by it are involved.
USAGE NOTE And/or is widely used in legal and business writing. Its use in general writing to mean "one or the other or both" is acceptable but can appear stilted.

Wikipedia:
And/or is a phrase used to indicate that one or more of the stated cases may occur. For example, the sentence "He will eat cake, pie, and/or brownies" indicates that although the person may eat any of the three listed desserts, the choices are not exclusive; the person may eat one, two, or all three of the choices.

Dictionary.com:
Used to join terms when either one or the other or both is indicated: passports and/or other means of identification.
Usage Many people think that and/or is only acceptable in legal and commercial contexts. In other contexts, it is better to use or both: some alcoholics lose their jobs or their driving licences or both (not their jobs and/or their driving licences).

Answers.com:
Both or either of two options. For example, His use of copyrighted material shows that the writer is careless and/or dishonest . This idiom originated in legal terminology of the mid-1800s.

Webster's:
—used as a function word to indicate that two words or expressions are to be taken together or individually

American Heritage Dictionary:
Used to indicate that either or both of the items connected by it are involved.

MacMillan Dictionary:
used for saying that either or both of two situations are possible

Encarta World English Dictionary:
either or both: a short way of saying that either or both of two options may be valid

Cambridge Dictionary of American English:
used to mean that either one of two things or both of them is possible

Hutchinson Dictionaries:
This is useful where it is essential to save space; dogs and/or cats is much shorter than dogs or cats, or both. It is quite at home on forms, but looks out of place in ordinary writing.

[Trinitite]

Keith is correct. Here's why.
except and only to the extent that you are entitled to possess such a weapon under applicable state or federal law and authorized in writing by the Chief Security Officer
or
authorized in writing by the Chief Security Officer.

The and/or creates two conditions. 1) You are entitled by law and you are authorized in writing or 2) You are not entitled by law but you are authorized in writing.

So you're saying that if a Mexican restaurant sells a fajita dinner with "chicken and/or beef"
the choices are chicken and beef or beef only ?

[speedsix]

...used to order just that way...you could have chicken OR you could have beef
...or you could have chicken AND beef...some of each...it ain't hard...if you're hungry