Should Employee pay for damages?

[Mahnoor]

Whether or not employers can charge you for mistakes depends on where you live. The only federal rule is that deductions can’t reduce your pay below minimum wage. This rule applies regardless of what state you live in. But many states provide extra protection for employees who make mistakes.

Most states classify “mistakes” as 1) cash or cash register shortages, 2) acceptance of bad checks, or 3) lost, damaged, or broken equipment.

 

[btaliat]

If the employee is doing it for the first time and it is purely by accident, then the boss should forgive and forget. But if it keeps on repeating itself, then the employee has to be paying for every damage so that it will teach him how it be careful at work.

 

[Joseph555]

It is not out of place for an employee to pay for damages if the damages were cause by their lackadaisical behaviour moreover it is left for the employer to take the decision whether to collect from the employee or not, that is as an employee you must be ready to bear the risk if any goes wrong in your department

 

[Goodday]

We all know that accident happens, if an employee accidentally breaks or damages equipment, will you require him to pay for replacement equipment? Some workers may purposely damage equipment, or out of gross negligence. Since you may not actually know if the damage is done on purpose or not, will you allow them pay for the damages be it on purpose or accidentally?

In life everyone is capable of making such mistake and l would not allow my employees to pay for any damage that they might accidentally cause or even intentional. But if such damage repeats itself within a short time and I feel this time it was intentional, l would now allow such employee to pay for the damage.

 

[Oluwasayofunmi]

Answering the question on Should Employee pay for damages that was asked, I think employees should pay for the damages they cause, because if they don't pay for the damages it will only affect the financial situation of the business negatively

 

[Mostee501]

An employer is not suppose to charge or deduct an employee's wages due to damages,mistakes or even shortages incurred in the a business unless it has been put into writing legally by mutual consent between the employer and employee.

 

[Folaham]

There should be clearly stated terms of engagement before the contract letter and it should state whether or not employees are to pay for damages but if there isn't, I feel it is the motive behind the damage because if it was unintentional it might have to be company expenses or lack of expertise but if it was deliberate then it should be the employee

You are very correct but in most cases the employee get to pay for damages caused by him/her and the mode of payment are through direct deduction from his salary(salaries).
Most organizations have code of conduct and staff handbook to guide/warn their staff around things like this

 

[Neeta313]

Just as how mistakes happen so does accidents, accidents are unexpected and unplanned events so when an employee damages an equipment, an epmloyer shouldn't charge them for the equipment, except the employer saw them red-handed and it was done on purpose, but if it wasn't on purpose, I don't think you should hold the employee for damages, because there is some damages that may even occur and you won't even know which employee did it.

 

[shakky2]

it depends on the situation and circumstance surrounding such damage it may not be intentional and sometimes it may be but it all has to do with the witnesses available and how it all happened but damages most times are due to accident

 

[Abelcairo43]

If an employee or worker mistakenly damage one thing or the other, it is very wrong for you to ask them to pay for damages. Such employee would develop a form of hatred for you and won't show much dedication to his or her job like he normally uses to. It isn't in anyway appropriate to ask an employee to pay for damages.

 

[Alihaider]

Employers cannot compensate employees for mistakes, shortcomings or losses. Only if you agree (in writing) that your employer may deduct your salary due to a mistake. ... Your employer cannot deduct your wages for making mistakes. December 2015

 

[mubinadaddy]

Yes they are to pay for damages, if employees damage anything he or is to pay for it so that he or she will be disciplined and he or she will never do such again once disciplined. You damage anything you pay for it.

 

[Doradorwa]

If the damages was caused by any of the employers then I see no reason why the employee will not pay for it... Even as student we are always mandated to pay for damages ahead of time and but tho of the damages is accidental then the cost can be overlooked.

 

[Kiwi]

I mean everyone should be responsible for each of their actions either intentional or by mistakes. You can only require an employee to pay for damaged equipment, if the damage is done on purpose or act of negligence. Let there be insurance cover for your staff in the course of your business.

 

[Marissa]

If an employee accidentally breaks or damages equipment, you cannot require him to pay for replacement equipment. Accidents happen. The damage must be treated as a business expense. You can only require an employee to pay for damaged equipment, if the damage is done on purpose or act of negligence.

 

[Natedini]

Before you begin making deductions from your employee’s paychecks, you have to be able to prove that he was definitely at fault. If your employee was working on a customer’s yard when he broke the equipment, your customer can tell you how the employee was using the equipment.
You have a much stronger case for charging your employee for breaking the equipment if you saw him using it incorrectly. If you saw this, you can make deductions from his paychecks until the equipment is paid off.

 

[lelakil3]

We all know that accident happens, if an employee accidentally breaks or damages equipment, will you require him to pay for replacement equipment? Some workers may purposely damage equipment, or out of gross negligence. Since you may not actually know if the damage is done on purpose or not, will you allow them pay for the damages be it on purpose or accidentally?

It should be an investigation first before giving a final statement as it is to be investigated that there are claim that it is intentional so the employee must pay the equipment that damage thus if cannot paid it must deducted to the salary.

 

[zenith]

Honestly this is one thing I saw private guard companies are doing.they will charge the companies they providing securities for as high as 60 to 70 thousand per guard but they will pay the guard 20 thousand or less as his salary.they claim that the high charges is because if the guard damage something or something is stolen they will use some part of the money to replace it.which means the guard will pay if something is damaged or missing.

 

[Adexgrace]

If am the boss and am to it decision on that, I will firstly pardon and give warning for the first damage. Then if the same thing happens again then the employee will be left with no choice than to pay for the damages.

 

[Adeyoola7]

Employment contracts sometimes contain an undertaking by the employee not to cause damage to the employer during the course of employment. Such provisions impose liability on the employee for any damage that the employer may incur as a result of any act or omission by the employee, and allow the employer to deduct compensation from any payment to which the employee may be entitled, including salary.