In the US they’re already shielded from liability by the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act (and have been for 30 years)
So Joe didn’t open them up to anything.
The real reason they do this is because there’s always going to be some employee who abuses the system, so it’s easier to do a blanket ban than police their employees.
Not equally enforcing the rule for everyone would actually be what opens them up to a lawsuit, because the fired employee can say, “but you let Bob do it once so you’re discriminating against me.”
In the US they’re already shielded from liability by the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act (and have been for 30 years)
So Joe didn’t open them up to anything.
The real reason they do this is because there’s always going to be some employee who abuses the system, so it’s easier to do a blanket ban than police their employees.
Not equally enforcing the rule for everyone would actually be what opens them up to a lawsuit, because the fired employee can say, “but you let Bob do it once so you’re discriminating against me.”