Lost Company Laptop: Is It Fair to Deduct the Cost from an Employee's Salary?

We have an employee who lost his official laptop. Can we deduct the cost of equipment from his salary?

Has the laptop been signed for? Was the laptop insured? Has a domestic inquiry been conducted? Has an FIR been lodged? Yes, you can recover the cost of the laptop from the employee if he was responsible for the loss due to negligence and it is proven in the company-level inquiry.

If the laptop was stolen, then the company shall not deduct the laptop amount from the employee.

How is the employee responsible if someone steals his or her laptop? I think all office equipment shall be insured, and the company shall seek a claim from the insurance company.

Learningnovo,

The domestic enquiry will look into this aspect of negligence. A thing gets stolen only when there is neglect in keeping the laptop securely. Any employee can sell his laptop and claim it was stolen. Circumstances of loss need to be brought out before attributability of blame comes up.

One of my team members lost his laptop while travelling in the Delhi metro. The metro was so crowded that the CCTV footage also didn't help. We visited the local police station 5 times. Forget about investigation, the police officials didn't even launch an FIR. They kept on telling us to come again and again. Ultimately the company deducted the laptop amount from the employee's salary.

Don't you guys insure company assets? Check with your finance department and claim for insurance. That's how ethical and progressive companies handle issues in these kinds of eventualities.

Insuring assets is a step for protecting company assets. However, an employee needs to take full care of equipment held in their charge. If they fail to do so, they have to be penalized after a proper inquiry with natural justice in mind. The responsibility squarely rests on the employee. Insurance provides protection, that is all.