Liability for lost phone: What now?

Questioner

My phone disappeared late on a Friday evening during a holiday in Barcelona, ​​probably after we had taken pictures with it in a busy street. After advice from the police on the street, we reported this on Saturday and the damage was reported to my travel insurance. However, the SIM card belongs to my employer. After a month it turned out that excessive fraud had been committed with this SIM card within 20 hours of its disappearance, with the damage running into tens of thousands of euros from hundreds of people who had called foreign numbers. My employer wants to hold me personally liable for the costs because I did not report the disappearance to my provider immediately. My private liability insurance says that my policy excludes this kind of thing because my employer assumes the telecom risk. My phone was secured with fingerprint and SIM with pin code, but the question is whether my phone was locked because my employer doubts this because abuse started immediately. I tried to contact my employer / telecom coordinator in Barcelona 8 hours after the disappearance, but could not find the number via the internet. After that I filed a police report. On Monday at 9 o'clock I therefore reported the disappearance to my telecom coordinator at work who handles the settlement and closure. In January 2015 the same thing happened to me and I followed exactly the same reporting procedure as this time. In both cases, management, colleagues or coordinator did not point out to me that the reporting procedure was different from the one I followed. So I was of the opinion that I had acted correctly. Asking colleagues shows that there is no clear procedure. Only when the fraud was noticed did the employer refer to another official procedure, in which immediately after the disappearance there is a reference to reporting to the employer who will handle the settlement. My collective labor agreement states: “Art. Liability: … Of employee towards employer. The employee is not liable for damage or loss of items given to him by the employer for use or safekeeping, provided that the damage or loss has been reported in the prescribed manner, unless the damage is the result of intent or deliberate recklessness on the part of the employee.” My GSM user guideline states: “You can be held liable for improper use of the GSM device and/or peripheral equipment. In the event of demonstrable misuse (after investigation), the employer reserves the right to recover all damages (replacement, repair and call costs) from you.” The timing is rather precarious as we are in the middle of a reorganization. I have a meeting with my employer next week where I want to bring someone from the co-determination because I expect disciplinary measures. What is your assessment to what extent I can be held liable for (partial?) payment of the telecom bill?

Lawyer

Your employer can hold you liable for damage suffered by him/her that is caused by your fault, if you demonstrably cause damage due to negligence on your part. I gather from your story that it has happened twice now. In that case, there is certainly negligence and you should have paid more attention to the fact that you lost your phone. And certainly not with the boss's SIM. In addition, the employer may also be liable, since he/she should have pointed out to you that the phone may not be used for purposes that fall within the private sphere. In addition, it also depends on the conditions and the insurance that the employer has. So it is a difficult matter to say something about without having delved into it.