Car crash

topsales

A young friend of mine damaged her company van recently - just slight damage. She is leaving her job today and the company have stated that they plan to deduct the cost of repair - about £200 from her final salary. can they do this?

hjb123

I dont know think they should be able to do this.

Was it her fault or how did the damage happened? Surely they should just claim on insurance.

I would fight them all the way!

researcher

Unless she was using the car for something which she had been specifically excluded from doing, I think they have no right at all.

Fran

Does it say anything about this in her contract?

It could be unlawful deductions from wages and she could take them to an employment tribunal if that's the case. There is a 3 month time limit for applying to a tribunal.

She might find the dti website useful, she could also phone Citizens Advice or acas

black-saturn

Was she working on a self employed basis?

Savvy_Sue

Another possible explanation is that either they're not wanting to claim on insurance for minor damage, or the £200 is the excess and it is unrecoverable because it was your friends fault.

HOWEVER, I don't think they should be trying to recover it just because she is leaving. If they would have done that anyway then I'd have thought it should be in her contract that they could do this.

Agree that she needs advice. And that if the advice is that she needs to pay she should ask if she could do so in instalments rather than lose it all from her final wages, but I don't know if they would agree to that.

topsales

Thanks for the help everyone - she is going to the CAB as the company are adamant that they are going to deduct £250 from her final pay. They say this is because she hit a cyclist - tapped him - and the money pays for damage to his bike and to the van. She informed the police on the day of the accident and they took no action against her. Her manager is now saying that they are deducting the money because 'she was probably drunk'!!!!!! At 8 in the morning....Unbelievable!

hjb123

Gosh, I really wouldnt let them get away with this.

Is it a big well known company trying to bully its employees?

MrSmartprice

Quite simple. If she was using the vehicle for her employment then the company insurance picks up the bill. There is no way she can be held personally liable to pay this money. The deduction sounds illegal to me, and she should recover the amount, plus compensation for the distress etc caused by their actions.

Of course, if she was using it for other purposes then the company insurance will not cover it. In that case the company should still pay her the salary she is due, and reclaim the amount through the usual channels.

topsales

It is not a large company and I think they are chancing their arm. It is a cleaning company and she was given the van to use to take herself, and other employees whom she had to collect, to the job/s for the day. When the accident happened she was going to pick up one of these employees so was definitely on company business. I think it is because she is young that they think they will get away with it! - They won't...

topsales

Well - would you believe they have taken £223 off her pay - saying it was an advance of wages - needless to say, it wasn't and they have nothing to prove it was. Is this not fraud?