If an employee causes damage to a third person at work or in connection with work, the employer is liable for such damage. Thus, the injured party can claim compensation from the employer who is financially stronger than the employee himself and has a higher probability that the damage will actually be compensated. The employer is primarily responsible, but it is possible to file a claim for damages against the employee who caused the damage. This will only be possible if that employee caused the damage in question intentionally, regardless of the degree of intent. In these situations, the injured party can file a request for compensation either to the employer or the employee or to both jointly.
The legal basis for claiming compensation for material damage derives from Article 155 in connection with Articles 170 and 171 of the Law on Contracts and Torts. Additionally, according to Article 91 of the FBiH Labour Law, “an employee who causes damage to a third party at work or in connection with work intentionally or due to gross negligence, and the damage was compensated by the employer, is obliged to compensate the employer for the amount of compensation paid to the third party”.
In situations where the claim is filed jointly or only to the employer, and the employee caused the damage intentionally or due to gross negligence, and the employer paid compensation to the injured party, the employer will have the right of recourse from the employee in such situations.
In the case in which this Law Office successfully represented the plaintiff in civil proceedings before the Municipal Court in Sarajevo, and regarding the Employer’s liability for damage to third parties caused by an employee – claim for damages (German: Haftung des Arbeitgebers für vom Arbeitnehmer verursachten Schaden an einem Dritten – Schadensersatz) a settlement was concluded on the basis of which the defendant (employer) paid the amount of EUR 122,317.54 (equivalent in BAM 239,232.31) to the plaintiff for the damage caused by his employee, which fully satisfied the plaintiff.
Given that the employer paid damages in the amount of EUR 122,317.54 (equivalent in BAM 239,232.31), the employee is obliged to compensate the employer for the amount of compensation paid to the third party (plaintiff). At the same time, criminal charges were filed against the employee for the criminal offence of Theft from Article 286, paragraph 1, Fraud from Article 294, Abuse of position or authority from Article 383, Fraud on the job from Article 385, Unconscionable work on the job from Article 387 and Forgery of an official document from Article 389 of the Criminal Code of the Federation of BiH (“Official Gazette of the Federation of BiH”, No. 36/2003, 21/2004 – corrected, 69/2004, 18/2005, 42/2010, 42/2011, 59/2014, 76/2014, 46/2016 and 75/2017).
If you need counselling on the subject of Employer’s liability for damage to third parties caused by an employee – claim for damages (German: Haftung des Arbeitgebers für vom Arbeitnehmer verursachten Schaden an einem Dritten – Schadensersatz) as a company, company member, director or founder or you need corporate law attorney for your company or for your business idea, then you are in the right place with us and you can contact our corporate law attorneys directly by phone (+387 62 342 463), WhatsApp, Viber or e-mail (rasid@haracic.ba).
