Agreement on liability for entrusted assets

What it means

An agreement on liability for entrusted assets is a written agreement under the Labour Code by which an employee assumes liability for cash, valuables, goods or stock handed over to them and which they must account for.

It differs from ordinary liability for damage in both burden of proof and amount. The employer does not have to prove fault: a shortage in the entrusted assets is made good in full, and the employee is released only by showing it arose without their fault.

The agreement covers only values that circulate and must be accounted for - cash in the till, goods in the shop, stock in the warehouse. It is not used for work equipment such as a laptop, phone or tools, which are mostly low-value assets; for those, liability for loss of entrusted items applies on the basis of a written acknowledgement.

How it works in practice

The agreement is separate and in writing, or it is void, and it may be concluded no earlier than the day the employee turns eighteen. An inventory count of the entrusted assets is taken when it is signed, when it ends and when the employee moves to another workplace.

Where a team is jointly liable, the shortage is split in proportion to their earnings. It cannot be deducted from wages unilaterally: without a deduction agreement or a court decision the claim stays on paper even when the stock records confirm it.

In outlets handling cash we set up a daily close with the client: the cashier counts the cash, checks it against the eKasa daily report and the cash book and signs off any difference. A small shortage found the same day can be explained and attributed; the sum of differences over a whole quarter almost never can.

What to watch out for

The costly mistake is handing a till or a warehouse to a new employee with no inventory count. A shortage found six months later cannot be tied to their period, the agreement is useless, and the company absorbs the whole loss.

A shortage the employee does not make good stays with the company not only as a loss but usually also as a non-deductible expense: the part of a shortage above any compensation received cannot be claimed against the tax base. An unrecovered shortage therefore costs more than its book value.