Charging Maids for Damaged Properties

I personally don't have a maid, but I guess it would really depend on the value of the property that was damaged. If it was something inexpensive and replaceable I probably wouldn't charge them, I would consider how many times accidents like this have occurred. Because realistically speaking accidents happen to anyone but if it's a re-occurring situation and that person is just careless, I would just get rid of them and try and hire someone else. Now if the item was expensive and of sentimental value then I would probably consider charging them and/or taking it out of their pay.

I do not have a housemaid, but if any maid were to break something precious to me I would probably fire them, but not after scolding them and requesting they reimburse me. I wouldn't let it happen more then once, now if it was something not so valuable, I would still have them reimburse me but I would not fire them unless it became a constant thing.

we have had a couple of maids before and well we do tell them that we are going to charge if they break something, especially if they know they are not liable for anything, they wont take extra care in helping out at home, especially in handling the things they use at home. hehe but well, of course we do not charge them, otherwise they would really not have enough more to take home... =)

Hi Graceekwenx, we used to have a live-in maid when my father was sick. She did throw away some items that we still wanted, but we let it go. As long as she did her job well, that really did not matter. I think it is good to live peaceably, and accept honest mistakes. After all, when we work in the office environment, our bosses never made us pay for anything that we damaged accidentally.

We grew up having housemaids and up to now I have a housemaid living with us. But I have never charge them for damaging or shall we say accidentally damaging our properties. Like what happened to some t-shirts or clothes burned in one portion by ironing, or staining some expensive shirts or breaking some glasses or plates. You will really feel bad at first but sometimes accidents do happen so instead of charging them, I just tell what to do and what not to do so that they will be extra careful next time.

I think this depends on what the situation is. I don't think its fair to charge someone for an honest mistake - if it was completely accidental, it could have been something that could just as easily have happened to you. Think about how you would feel if you made a mistake and had to then pay huge amount of money for it that you probably couldn't afford? I know that when I worked as a waitress if you dropped something and it was an honest mistake, the restaurant would not make you pay for it. I guess if it is happening again and again though, there is some kind of problem there and it needs to be looked into, because of course it doesn't make sense to keep hiring someone who is costing you a fortune!!

I have never had a housemaid but in fairness I think if I did and the housemaid would continually break things I at some point have to decide if all the damages is worth keeping her on the job. Accidents is one thing but continually may probably be too expensive. Of course if I value the person I would try and speak to the housemaid and ask her to please be careful and hopefully things would stop breaking.

I don't know anyone who has maids. I think it would depend on the owners tax situation which may be different in each country. Sometimes it is possible for the owner to claim these items in their tax return. In this case, it would be unfair to also charge the maids for damaged property. There may also be a situation where the maid is aware that it is possible for the owner to claim this on tax & then there will be problems if the owner also attempts to charge her! Chinaware is a different problem, but if it was electronic, I'd fix it myself!

Sometimes our maids commits accidents on some of our things. When this happens, i usually would just admonish and warn her, that next time it happens, it will already be charged to her salary, though it will be in a staggered manner. That way, she will be extra careful not to commit any accident anymore.

I do not have housemaids, I live alone. However, I work in the hospitality industry ( hotel ) and in the hotel any kitchen staff, food and beverage staff, housekeepers (cleaner ) that breaks the hotel drinking glasses or plate through a careless personal error is made to pay for the glasses. There is deduction from the staff salary by the accounts department. It is only when the incident occur accidentally that is when the staff is free from having his salary deducted. The owner of the hotel told staff in a meeting that he chooses to do this to establish orderliness and discipline within the workforce and the system at large.

If it was truly an accident and it didn't happen often, I may let it slide. It also depends on how expensive it was. A $20 plate isn't all that important, a simple scolding would do. But if she broke a $1000 television or something, she would pay for it, and I might even take her to court over it. I think it all depends on the situation and circumstances.