My entire salary is being withheld due to damage to a company car

Questioner

My case is as follows; I worked as an account manager at a company and received a company car. In October I had an accident with this car. (I drove through an orange light and was hit from the right by someone who had a green light). According to the report it is my fault but I do not agree with this because I did not drive through a red light, but an orange light and that means stop if possible. That aside, the damage amounts to € 17,000, - and my employer wants to collect this from me. Last month he deducted my deductible (400, -) from my salary. And this month my entire salary (1,600). Without any message or communication. I wonder if this is officially allowed and I also think that as a company you are insured for this kind of thing? Especially if you give cars to employees.. I do not know what my rights are but I really do not think it is right that my entire salary is being withheld. I hope you can save me and help me out of this situation. Thanks in advance!

Lawyer

If the accident occurred during your work, your employer can only recover the damages from you if you deliberately caused the accident or recklessly participated in traffic. If the accident did not occur during your work, you must in principle compensate the damages. However, there are exceptions to this. Your employer is not permitted to offset your entire salary against the damages because the exempt amount must be taken into account. The amount of the exempt amount depends on your living situation. You can calculate the amount of the exempt amount on the following website: https://bereken.uwbeslagvrijevoet.nl/.