Legal Question in Employment Law in California

Employee Responsibility for Employer Property
My job requires that I am on-call 24/7 to respond to incidents and accidents. In addition, I am in the field for much of my work. I am assigned a company vehicle as part of my job that I take it home when I am off-duty. The company has a published assigned vehicle policy which prohibits personal use of the vehicle and makes it clear that it is not a perk, but issued only where necessary for the job. It makes no mention of an employee's potential financial responsibility for the vehicle. My assigned vehicle, an SUV, was broken into one night recently while it was parked in my driveway. I live in what is statistically a very low-crime area. The rear window was broken out, and repairs came to about $2000. My company is demanding that I pay 25% of the total repair. I do not feel there was any negligence on my part. Can they force me to pay?

Asked on 2/21/04, 3:08 pm

Michael Kirschbaum Law Offices of Michael R. Kirschbaum

0 users found helpful

0 attorneys agreed

Re: Employee Responsibility for Employer Property

No. Under California law, you are not responsible for any damage caused to an employer's property unless you were grossly negligent.

Answered on 2/23/04, 5:49 pm

Keywords

Match Any Match All

Country

State

Area of Law