Folks Reveal 30 Seemingly Illegal Things That Are Actually Not Criminal At All, As Shared Online

CilliamBlinton said:
Discussing wages with your fellow employees.

breaker-of-shovels replied:
Not only is it legal, your right to do so is protected by the National Labor Relations Act of 1935. It’s actually illegal to tell your employees not to talk about wages with each other.

Employers asking for vaccination status. Or asking anyone their vaccination status. All perfectly legal. People say.. but it's a HIPAA violation. No it is not. Your employer must treat it as confidential, they can't share it with anyone else without your permission. But it's perfectly legal to ask or even require that you show proof.

FriedBack said:
Cops lying to you. (U.S.) They dont have to tell you theyre a cop. They can say literally anything to extract information.

uwu_SenpaiSatan replied:
Even in interrogations.

FriedBack replied:
Especially in those. Anything to get you to incriminate yourself. Always request a lawyer and don't say anything else.

Refusing service, as long as it is not based on a protected class and isn't an essential service. If you walk into my store with no intention to buy (or buy in the future,) I can ask you to leave and if you refuse, I can have you trespassed. I can kick you out for smelling bad, being rude, treating the staff disrespectfully, and for talking too loudly or with vulgar language. If you pay with a large bill or buy an expensive item with change, I can tell you to leave and come back with appropriate payment. Of course many of these things are bad business practices and your Google/Yelp reviews will reflect that, but they are generally legal (at least in the US.) This is especially true in bars, where protecting the alcohol service license is of upmost importance- anything that jeopardizes my liquor license is something you'll get 86'd for, and the law is generally on my side (on the civil court side of things there are more gray areas.)

wootpro said:
Counting cards at a casino black jack table.

BuffyStark replied:
It's just a strategy, nothing illegal about that. If Casinos catch you, they can bar you from coming back, but you cannot be arrested.

Solisia said:
In Sweden (and maybe elsewhere?) it is not illegal to try or succeed to escape from prison

UnoriginalUse replied:
In many European countries the law takes into account if you are acting as any reasonable person would in that situation. IIRC, the desire to escape is seen as reasonable.

cKerensky replied:
The caveat being that you can't cause harm. IE, committing a crime to escape.

Mackem101 said:
In the UK, trespass.

Most people believe it's a criminal offence, but that's only in certain circumstances (railways, MOD sites etc).

the_midget123 replied:
You can trespass until challenge. This law was put in place to stop hikers straying into someone land and getting arrested.

So in the UK you can trespass but as soon as your asked to leave and refuse then you can be arrested.

In canada, women can be shirtless wherever men can. Though women still get arrested for this.

nickdude96 said:
Piracy if you download, in most countries. It's illegal to distribute pirated material but not to download it, mostly because the laws are a decade or two behind. Here in Canada, for instance, a copyright owner can send a warning notification to the internet provider and they're legally obligated to pass it on, but they have no obligation to punish you for it. I don't think any major providers here ban people, it doesn't affect them and you're still paying them.

Hyena-Heretic replied:
I’m in Canada and have gotten a few notices in the mail due to pirating movies. I can’t remember the exact wording but they say something along the lines of “you have to pay x thousands of dollars to this company”. There’s no legal obligation to pay but some people have ended up paying before.

kirklennon replied:
> There’s no legal obligation to pay but some people have ended up paying before.

The copyright holder *can* sue you to make you pay, but they *never* do this in Canada because there’s a rather modest lifetime total you can sue for in Canada that’s per work, so if you get your full money from one person, you can’t threaten to sue anybody else for pirating the same thing, ever. Instead the business model is just to send out thousands of demands and hope people settle.

A lot of people think it’s illegal for an employer to fire someone over their opinions because “they were exercising their right of free speech.”

leapdayjose said:
Giving cops the middle finger. It's protected under freedom of speech.
Doesn't mean it's smart to do and they won't find some reason to make your day hell. But it's legal lol.

you_lost-the_game replied:
Does not apply in Germany. Insults are illegal here and are not protected by free speech. Not exclusive to cops, insults in general are illegal

In my state, turning left on a red light when you’re on a one-way and turning onto another one-way. Nobody knows, nobody goes, and it drives me bonkers.

Bringing your own snacks to the cinema

In the US: driving barefoot. Absolutely zero states have a law against this.

The rumor probably started because many states have a law saying you must be wearing unobstructing footwear that won’t get in the way of petal operation. So no driving in ski boots.

Driving with the interior light on in the car

Child marriage is still legal in a surprising number of US states.

A lot of people think becoming a citizen of another country deprives you of the citizenship of your home country, particularly if you're a US citizen. All country's laws are different, but most modern democracies don't care if you acquire another citizenship. Notable exceptions include Japan and The Netherlands. I'm a British and US citizen, neither country minds.

LukeIAmYourPikachu said:
UK - Giving alcohol to someone under age 18. In a private residence anyone aged 5 or over can drink alcohol

Frogmarsh replied:
Where I live, in Wisconsin, USA, you can serve your children alcohol (I think at any age), at home, at bars, until they turn 18, at which point they have to wait until they’re 21 before you can buy them a drink again.

Tax avoidance. Perfectly legal. Tax evasion is a completely different story.

Writer's Note: According to the IRS, tax avoidance is an action that's taken to lessen a person's or company's tax liability, this way maximizing their after-tax income, whereas tax evasion is failing to pay or deliberately underpaying on one's taxes.

In the US, owning machine guns.

It's expensive and there's a lot of dealing with the ATF, but you can own all sorts of wild weapons legally.