The bills were then paid by my employer. There was no notification that the mandated blackberry number would become owned by the company. The only policy I found was effective about a year after this transition had occurred. This policy was not distributed to us nor available in HR policies or other websites. Those of us who were "acquired" vs. new employees were not and are still not aware of the phone number ownership. The only information we received relevant to the now employer paid contract was that the plans and minutes would be "pooled". No mention of ownership of the phone number. I have kept copies of all communications on the subject.

Doesn't the employer have an obligation to explain or provide a policy or access to a policy that states that when they mandate my use of their hardware, then apply my personal phone number to that hardware and bill, that my phone number will become their property? If they had done so I would have kept my personal phone and number when the blackberry was provided to me. There was no indication to us that the employer would "own" our personal numbers. Ironically, it appears that my employer is an advertiser on this site so I am somewhat concerned about conflicts of interest. I haven't found any other employees who were aware of this either.