Policy Statement
Employees who experience a loss of personal items during the performance of their job duties, may be compensated by the Employer provided that the loss was:
- not due to the employee’s negligence; and
- of personal items that employees were reasonably required to have in their possession during the performance of their duties.
Application
This Policy applies to all employees of Government departments.
Bargaining unit employees should also consult their respective collective agreements and the provisions of the collective agreement shall prevail.
Definitions
| Personal Items | articles which are the personal property of employees |
| Personal Loss | the destruction, damage or loss of employees’ personal items |
Responsibilities
Department
It is the responsibility of individual departments to:
- investigate all matters relating to the personal loss of employees;
- endeavour to repair workplace premises as soon as possible should the cause of damage be disrepair of the Employer’s premises;
- provide reasonable security measures to prevent loss through theft or vandalism in the work place; and
- replace any compensable personal loss in an expedient manner.
Employee
It is the responsibility of employees to:
- exercise due care in the course of employment;
- wear only items that are reasonable to be in their possession in the performance of their duties;
- take reasonable precautions to secure personal items against theft or vandalism;
- wear protective equipment as required; and
- report any personal loss to the Employer.
Reporting a Personal Loss
All incidents of damage or loss must be reported, in writing, by employees to their supervisors, within 7 calendar days of the incident. Employees on travel status may have up to 7 additional calendar days in which to report the personal loss.
Compensation will only apply to those personal items which employees would reasonably have in their possession during the normal performance of the assigned duties and when the loss or damage was not caused by the employees’ negligence.
Deputy Ministers or their designates may approve personal loss claims up to $1000. Claims of more than $1000 require approval of the Treasury Board Secretariat.
Any personal loss incurred while on the Employer’s business should be reported to, and covered by, the employees’ own Department regardless of where the loss or damage occurred.
Reimbursement
Employees may claim reimbursement for personal loss by completing a personal loss claim form (61 KB) and submitting it to the HR Client Service Centre which can be contacted at 1-888-729-7690 or HRClientServiceCentre@gov.nl.ca.
The written claim should give full details of the circumstances under which the personal loss occurred and the estimated replacement cost of the personal item.
Where possible, employees should have damaged articles available for the Employer’s inspection.
Employees may be reimbursed the replacement cost for personal items, when approved by the Deputy Minister or designate and with appropriate receipts (where possible).
Last Policy Update: February 16, 2015