How Much Those Work Expenses are Costing You

If you are required to use personal property in the course of your employment, your employer may be legally required to reimburse you for work expenses you incur while you are on the clock. This includes travel expenses such as mileage on your personal vehicle, cell phone messaging charges, internet charges if you use your own internet service for work, required clothing (such as uniforms), and more.

Unfortunately, some employers are either unaware of such laws, or are deliberately ignoring them.

What Types of Work Expenses are Eligible for Reimbursement?

For California businesses, virtually anything that is directly related to your job duties upon which you must spend your own personal funds should be reimbursed by your employer. For example, if a worker is required to make sales calls using their own cell phones, legally, they may be entitled to be reimbursed for that portion of their subscription fee and any messaging charges.

With recent changes in tax laws that no longer allow many work-related deductions, it is more important than ever that workers who must spend money in order to do their jobs be properly reimbursed.

How Much Are Your Work Expenses?

The amount of cash you may be required to lay out for work-related duties can vary a great deal, depending on your occupation and the nature of your employment. A Congressional Research Service study of IRS data from 2010 found that employee expenses ranged from around $4300 to as much as $28,000 per year.

Here are some typical expenses that a California worker who travels for work might pay over the course of a year:

Cell phone: $960
Internet: $792
Automobile (including loan payments, insurance, gas and maintenance): $8,469
Uniforms: $312
Meals: $10, 920

The portion of those expenses that are directly related to your job duties is the amount to which you are legally entitled for compensation. Some companies simply pay employees a flat “per diem” rate for travel and other expenses. However, if for example an employee is required to make cell phone calls as part of their job and the company does not provide a cell phone for this purpose, the employee may be legally entitled to be reimbursed for any communication and messaging expenses incurred in the course of carrying out their job duties.

If Your Employer Fails to Reimburse You for Work Expenses

In some places, employees have had to file lawsuits in order to force their current or former employers to reimburse them for work expenses they wind up incurring. For example, in one California case, an appellate court ruled that a company must pay “a reasonable percentage or their phone bills” when they were required to use their own personal phones for work.

Regardless of what personal equipment you may use in your job duties, employers have a legal obligation to reimburse their workers for job-related use.

Join a Free California Worker Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you work for a California employer and were not reimbursed for work expenses, you may qualify to join this California workers reimbursement lawsuit investigation.

Learn More

This article is not legal advice. It is presented 
for informational purposes only.