Off course they can and it is perfectly legal!!!

I have seen this practice in Switzerland and Australia, it is nurmally done to encourage you to look after it and clearly will be more careful with the second one.

Every company I've ever worked for in 2 different countries had a policy of charging for lost badges..

Ok thanks to all ,

the message has been drilled in .... its normal .... dont loose badge

The number has worn off the back so I photocopied the badge and emailed it to him .... Get this .... now hes saying I must give him the number and i should of kept a record of it HA HA HA HA HA ...... I'll get lashed for this, but I think he is Swiss German

Oh dear now you'll have to call in a team of forensic experts to try and restablish the imprint left by the number.

Send him a note saying you've done your bit by not losing (note spelling) the badge. Tell him to do his job by keeping track of important personnel information (like badge numbers). This does not include keeping such information on a laptop that he takes home on the train and can be stolen.

Tom

out of interest how many stars did you have on it?

stars ?? I dont understand

Art. 321e Code of Obligations

VI. Employee’s liability
1 The employee is liable for any loss or damage he causes to the employer whether wilfully or by negligence.

So if lose your badge/coin/key etc. you've lost the property of the employer and are liable. If on the other hand your badge/coin/key has been stolen from you, you've probably not acted "negligently"...

Not all conditions of employment are written in the contract. Most of it is actually in the employee handbook or some such. You should have been given one of these and if they were on the ball you should have signed that you read and agree to it. But I believe they can pretty much be changed at will.

Other things are regulated by law.

Hmmm, I have no written contract, no employee handbook, no HR department, and no badge!

Poor me!

Tom

I always get a kick out of the things people think others "should" keep records of. Just where do they keep these records? I only keep records of important things like birth certificates, passport numbers, triathlon association membership numbers... everything else is just mumbo jumbo.

So you really don't have to worry about being asked to pay 50chf for a lost badge.... Not sure much you'll be charged if you lose your mind! :P

I lost 5 minutes reading this thread, you each owe me CHF5.

But to remain on topic - before a MOD with nothing better to do comes along - I've worked at a number of companies and universities in 4 countries and haven't had to pay for a lost badge, or have known a colleague who lost a badge and they didn't have to pay to replace it. At the last place I worked I think you had to pay to replace a lost digital fob for remote login or electronic signature.

Yes, but I bet you have a life!

Reply with a made up badge number.

That'll screw up their process. Somebody will come to you and say: we can't link you with the badge number?

Then say: what, you've lost track of my badge number? I will have to charge you for that!

There's not much which is more fun than purposefully screwing up a ridiculously bureaucratic process

Can think of some reasons e.g.:
1) you probably lost it in the course of travelling to or being at work in the first place... so it really is a business cost
2) you may have lost it while checking out at 02:00 preparing that presentation for the next day (despite your contract indicating you have a 40 hour work week) - perhaps the company would be happy to pay for those extra hours as well?

Point is, it's the kind of penny wise behaviour which winds up costing more in frustration.