What can an individual employer do if his employee breaks an object?
Verified 06 February 2023 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)
The individual employer is responsible damage caused by his employee at home.
If he considers that the damages committed by the employee are volunteers, he may sanction it by a warning, a lay-off or a dismissal. This will be the case, for example, when the employee voluntarily breaks a vase.
The employer cannot withhold the price of the broken item from the employee's salary, nor can he ask him to reimburse the item. The financial penalties are forbidden.
In addition to his insurance civil liability as a personal matter, the employer may take out professional indemnity insurance to cover the damage caused by his employee.
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Telephone administrative information - Allo Public Service
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Attention: the service does not respond questions relating to unemployment compensation and representations to Pôle emploi, civil servants or public service contractors, the amount or payment of social, wage or employer contributions.
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- Civil Code: Article 1242Liability of the individual employer for damage caused by his employee at home
- Labor Code: Articles L1331-1 to L1331-2Financial penalties
- Individual Employer: Home Support Worker (Personal Services)Service-Public.fr
- Dismissal of home-based employee employed by an individualService-Public.fr
- Official website of the individual employer and employeeUrssaf Caisse nationale (formerly Acoss)