Hi, I tried to research this myself but I can't see anything which answers my question. Hopefully someone who knows this area of law can point me in the right direction.
A close friend works where they have 'pooled' company cars. They used one but unfortunately had an accident. No-one was hurt.
The insurance company decided it was at least in part my friend's fault. So the employer's insurer paid the claim and the employer paid the excess. Friend agrees that they were at fault.
Under the terms of the employment contract, there's a clause that says that the employer must pay for damage to property arising from 'negligence' including car insurance excess.
The employer has now indicated that they will be taking the excess out from the salary in monthly instalments.
My friend is very low paid, and this hurts them. However it's an amount which doesn't warrant a lawyer's fee and they're not a pro bono poster child.
I think that there is quite a line between fault in an accident, and negligence. If so, and they were not negligent, I want to help them pursue the reversing of this, hopefully without going to a formal grievance.
What do you think? Is there a case where there is precedent for employee negligence or is there a common law definition against which I could test ?