My understand of how criminal allegations work, at least in Australia, and I believe the other Western democracies aren't too dissimilar, is that: 1. the compfny would have to report the matter to police, 2. the police would have to believe there is reasonable grounds to lay charges, 3. the police / public prosecutor would have to believe that a. the case is worth persuing and b. there is sufficient evidence for a guilty verdict if the defendant pleaded not guilty and the case went to a hearing before a judge.
I'll admit a company could threaten legal action, and this would usually be sufficient for the lay person to back down.
I agree with you in that running your life as though no one will hold you accountable works until it fails. I've had a close call with a major indictable, the charges against me ended up being dropped nolle prosequi because the police fumbled the evidence. And from my perspective lots of companies and law enforcement are riding roughshod over their obligations to us as people, so in a sense fuck them.
It's worth noting this approach probably isn't worth the hassle... But it does seem to be a personality trait I'm evidently not interested in changing, otherwise I probably would have by now.
I'll admit a company could threaten legal action, and this would usually be sufficient for the lay person to back down.
I agree with you in that running your life as though no one will hold you accountable works until it fails. I've had a close call with a major indictable, the charges against me ended up being dropped nolle prosequi because the police fumbled the evidence. And from my perspective lots of companies and law enforcement are riding roughshod over their obligations to us as people, so in a sense fuck them.
It's worth noting this approach probably isn't worth the hassle... But it does seem to be a personality trait I'm evidently not interested in changing, otherwise I probably would have by now.