Can work make you pay for damage?

[Fluffycloudland77]

Dh is motor trade & has damaged a car, his boss wants him to pay for it but he doesn't earn very much, neither do I.

There's no company policy re paying for damage.

Dh isn't a serial offender.

Can they do this?.

In what way was it damaged? Is there not done sort of insurance held by the garage that would cover it? What does his contract say about damages?

His contract says nothing about it, he dented a bumper moving it for the dealership outside a showroom in company time.

Cars get damaged all the time, every business has stock losses they have to write off.

I'm an insurance co ordination (amongst other things) within the motor trade. We are insured above the first £5k, the first £5k is paid at dealership level, i.e. The cost absorbed within that months budget then with the excess taken from the employee.

£250 for first accident, £500 for 2nd and mangers discression at investigation meeting level for 3rd time during a 3 year period.

Managers discression on above if no fault. Does he know for sure there is no policy?

There's never been a case of an employee paying for damage, it was owned by the manufacturer for years, it's been sold to another company in the past 6 months. This new managers been bought in, it's a multinational based in a communist country & in countries with no employment laws have sacked whole sale teams for not meeting monthly sales targets or for joining a union.

If they start making people pay for damage no ones going to move cars about. There's little room on site or in the storage centre.

Dh is phoning his union tomorrow.

It's not an official request, it's the dp telling him he needs Dh to pay for it when no one else is around to hear him. Dh has said no. It's 25% of his monthly net income.

He does 50 hour weeks with no lunch break.

new company, new rules. Is it a large company? There may well be a policy the manager and your DH is unaware of. He may do well seeking out their insurance policy.

I have to have a form signed by the employee and the dp before I can deduct from payroll.

Sounds like a shit environment to work in. We encourage our teams to have their lunch breaks, take annual leave, leave on time etc. The motor trade is a tough environment so we need to ensure a good home work life balance for all.

It's a very large company.

There's no reporting system for damage, you just tell your LM.

He signed an amendment to his old contract, he was never given a copy of it. It just stated that was swapping from new car to used.

It is a shit environment to work in. The dp has said its fine for Dh to get no breaks as long as they aren't stopping him from it, but his workload is too high for him to complete his tasks & have lunch.

Generally damage to cars which is the employees fault results in the employee paying the insurance excess. However this should be covered in the contract or employe handbook or a car policy your husband has read and signed beforehand. Talking to his union will be a good step.

You do have to remember that even though it's on company time etc your husbands actions resulted in damage that was not the company's fault.

Right, none of that's happened. There's no new company handbook.

He's only signed for a new job role & he read it before signing, he would've noticed that clause & they're asking for the whole amount of the damage not the excess.

It'll be interesting when its customers cars getting damaged & not stock. That happens frequently.

If it's a very large company it will have all of the above. There will be a drivers handbook. Tell him to look at the company intranet page.

The reporting line will be to the lm but the lm will then report to the dp who will tell the insurance co ordination who will open a claim number. Once the car is repaired by the body repair centre the invoice will be billed to the dealership who claims the excess from the employee and has to pay the rest of the invoice from that months budget.

Is there a site PA/Offce manager he could speak to?

No, they don't have an office manager. They've never had an office manager in the 21 years he's worked there.

Usually the cost of repair is taken out of the profit in the car.

Since the takeover no staff handbooks been issued, there's not been new contracts for everyone, Dh had an amendment because he swapped roles.

They haven't got an accident book on site. That's the level of organisation/compliance with the law we're dealing with.

The repair centres offered to do it free because it's Dh but he's said no because it looks like a kick back.

Dh says their "self insured", apparently nothing goes to the insurer until the bill hits £20K.

Does you husband have an old contract or old handbook? They would stand even if it's been taken over. Is there anything at all in there that's relates to damage?

When you say it's a large company, how big are you talking. Is it more than one dealership etc.

I find it very hard to believe their dealership excess is £20k - not saying they didn't say that. I process at least 1 a month and the invoices can hit £11k, no way would a dealership be able to absorb that extra cost each month and stay on budget, £5k has the Manager and Accountant grumbling!

He has his old contract, nothing related to damage.

International company, taken over from another international company.

No ones ever had to pay for damage, even when rear quarters have been cut off & replaced or the workshop managers drunk driven, crashed & been banned from driving or the time a tech blew an engine worth £30K doing something Dh told him not to do because the engine would blow.

£5K is there monthly valet bill. The accountant doesn't grumble when people are agency & being paid for 7 days work when they only worked 5. Every week of the month, for the last 3 years.

Sounds a nightmare.

Has the money been mentioned since? I'd be inclined to keep my head down whilst looking for another job.

Technically, if he hasn't signed a handbook they would struggle justifying taken the money especially if they haven't done so to others.

Their trying to say he left early on Friday, his LM sent him home early after the bump.

It's the kind of place where a staff member od's on cocaine and alcohol mid morning & the managers send them flowers at home. Or someone steals onsite & the manager says they'd have given them it if they'd know they wanted it that badly. It's batshit.

I'm expecting him to be suspended, if they can, but I know he'll tough it out & get the union involved

I'm starting to see why the new dp is so shocked at procedures/lack of. Obviously the rest of the trades not operating like this.

If the LP is only saying this out of earshot of others I'd be worried about him scamming your DH / pocketing the money.

I suspect they are trying to hide the loss.

Their losing £1000 per unit & all trade ins that used to be sold are going to the block.

Despite all this they make 7 figures profits.

They take the hit on kisses without troubling the insurance company. This is being self insured. Surely this is not a major bump if it's the bumper. Tell DH to go to his union because the firm should indemnify its employees and he didn't do anything illegal. Obviously a shit employer.

Basically, yes that's right.

I think if they could enforce it they would just say "your paying". End of.

So, from what's said on here they can't. If they suspend him pending investigation he gets a fortnight off with me & the hall gets decorated early.

It's not a major bump but it's a premium make & things are expensive.

Members of staff are going into meetings and being destroyed, they literally can't speak when they come out.

Can't really help with the issue but I would say a new job is in order and quickly!

He won't leave, he's had 8 dps in 12 years. He likes to see them worn down until they leave.