Company equipment entrusted to employees: what the Czech Labour Code says

23 October 2026, 8 min read

An employee leaves and doesn’t return the company laptop. Or says the phone was stolen on a tram. Whether the company gets its money back isn’t decided on the day they leave. It was decided on the day the equipment was handed over, by whether anyone had them sign for it.

Why one signature changes everything

The Czech Labour Code (Act No. 262/2006 Coll.) has a special rule for entrusted items. Under § 255, an employee must compensate the loss of tools, personal protective equipment and similar items that the employer entrusted to them against a written acknowledgement. The key difference is who has to prove what. If the employee signed for the item, their fault is presumed. They are released from liability only if they prove themselves that the loss wasn’t their fault (§ 255(6)).

	Entrusted against written acknowledgement (§ 255)	No acknowledgement (§ 250)
Who proves fault	Presumed. The employee can prove otherwise.	The employer
Amount of compensation	In full (§ 259)	For negligence, at most 4.5 × average monthly earnings (§ 257)
What it covers	Loss of the entrusted item	Any damage, including breakage

In both cases the amount is based on the item’s usual price at the time of the loss, not on what the company originally paid for it (§ 272). A three-year-old laptop won’t be valued like a new one.

What the rule covers and what it doesn’t

Tools, personal protective equipment and “similar items”. The Czech Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (MPSV) gives calculators, laptops and dictaphones as examples: things the employee uses alone and can keep secure. According to MPSV, a company car isn’t one of them.
Loss only, not damage. Based on the wording of the law and the MPSV interpretation, a broken laptop falls under the general rules: the employer has to prove fault and the cap applies.
Personal protective equipment is named in § 255 explicitly. Employees must receive it free of charge, and the employer may not replace it with money (§ 104(5)). Compensation can be claimed for loss, not for normal wear.

Items over CZK 50,000 need an agreement, not just a signature

An item worth more than CZK 50,000 may only be entrusted under a written agreement on liability for the loss of entrusted items (§ 255(2) and (5)). A high-end laptop, a professional camera or a measuring instrument can easily exceed that limit. The agreement can be signed at the earliest on the employee’s 18th birthday.

The employee may withdraw from the agreement in writing if the company hasn’t given them a way to protect the items, for example nowhere to lock the laptop. The obligation under the agreement also ends on the day the employment ends (§ 256). That’s one more reason to have everything returned and signed off by the employee’s last working day.

What a handover record should contain

The law only requires a “written acknowledgement” and doesn’t define what it must contain. Expert commentary and institutional templates point to this practical checklist:

Who received the item: name, employee number and position.
Exactly what they received: type, model and serial or inventory number. “Laptop” isn’t enough; in a dispute the item must be clearly identifiable.
When, and in what condition: date of handover, condition and age of the item. The condition later determines its usual price.
How it may be used, for example whether it can leave the workplace.
The obligation to return it on request and when employment ends.
For protective equipment, confirmation that the employee was trained in its use, as required by Government Regulation No. 390/2021 Coll.
The employee’s signature, plus a separate section for the return: date, condition and the signature of whoever took the item back.

Is a signature in an app or on a tablet enough?

Under the Czech Civil Code, written form is preserved even for acts made electronically, as long as the content can be recorded and the person acting identified (§ 562). MPSV states explicitly that acts done through platforms, apps or email meet the written form, generally without a qualified electronic signature unless a regulation specifically requires one. An acknowledgement of received equipment is not among the documents subject to the strict delivery rules of § 334 of the Labour Code.

So under the prevailing interpretation, an electronic acknowledgement is enough. We haven’t found a court ruling specifically on § 255, though. Because in a dispute the employer has to show the acknowledgement exists, it pays to use a system that reliably identifies who signed and keeps records that can’t be altered afterwards. The Civil Code presumes that records kept in an electronic system are reliable if they are made systematically, in sequence and protected against changes (§ 562(2)).

The employee didn’t return the item. What now

Ask them in writing to return it by a specific date.
If they don’t, discuss the amount of compensation with them and notify them in writing, as a rule within one month of discovering the loss (§ 263). If there is a trade union at your company, compensation above CZK 1,000 must be discussed with it too.
Offer a wage deduction agreement. Without one, you may not deduct the amount from wages; see the next section.
If the former employee simply keeps the item, you can sue for its return as the owner (§ 1040 of the Civil Code).
Watch the deadlines. A claim for damages becomes time-barred three years after you learn of the damage and who should compensate it, and ten years after the damage occurred at the latest.

The most expensive mistake: deducting it from the payslip

Deductions from wages to compensate damage are only allowed under a wage deduction agreement (§ 147(3)). In judgment 21 Cdo 238/2019, the Czech Supreme Court dealt with a service technician whose employer deducted CZK 6,768 from his April pay, without an agreement, as compensation for damage to a customer’s device. The technician terminated his employment with immediate effect, and the court ruled he was entitled to. According to the judgment, the employer may not make the deduction unilaterally even if the employee has acknowledged the damage.

An employee who terminates with immediate effect over unpaid wages is also entitled to wage compensation equal to their average earnings for the notice period (§ 56(2)). And a deduction without an agreement is an offence for which the labour inspectorate can impose a fine of up to CZK 2,000,000. A few thousand crowns for an unreturned phone can end up costing many times more.

Summary for practice

Hand over every entrusted item against a signature, with exact identification and a description of its condition.
For items over CZK 50,000, sign a written liability agreement.
When someone leaves, have a list of everything they hold and settle the returns by their last working day.
Never deduct compensation from wages without a wage deduction agreement.
Electronic signatures are fine. Just make sure you can show who signed and that nobody altered the record.

This article is based on the Czech Labour Code (Act No. 262/2006 Coll.) and the Civil Code (Act No. 89/2012 Coll.) as in force on 23 October 2026. It is a general overview, not legal advice for a specific case. In a dispute or with large amounts, consult a lawyer.

Sources

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