united-kingdom
Can I be held liable for accidental damage to my company laptop?
<p>I have resigned from the company I am an employee at and I am currently serving my notice period. To minimise distractions to other employees, my manager has asked me to work from home for the duration of the notice period.</p>
<p>While working at my home desk, I spilled a glass of water and it went over my closed laptop. I did my best to prevent damage (quickly drying the laptop, powering it off, and leaving it to dry for 48hrs).</p>
<p>Unfortunately it looks like the laptop is damaged, I imagine beyond economical repair (though I will verify this at the store).</p>
<p>I have checked my contract and there is nothing outlining company equipment.</p>
<p>Can I be held responsible for this damage?</p>

<p>What happens is the same as if you were an employee in the office, staying with the company for another few years.</p>
<p>You are an agent for the company, and everything you do is as if the company was doing it (except for extreme circumstances). A company employee broke your laptop. It's the company's problem. They should have insurance for this kind of thing. And they told you to work from home, so if something happened because you are at home, that's the company's problem as well.</p>
<p>It could be different if your company had told their employees not to have any fluids anywhere near their computers, and you had acted against this. Or my company doesn't allow me to take my works computer with me on a holiday; if I did without explicit permission and it got damaged, that would be my problem.</p>
