Are California Employers Required to Reimburse Employees for Cell Phone Use?

If you live in California and need to use your personal cell phone for work, your employer should reimburse employees for cell phone use, just as they should reimburse for other work-related expenses.

This may seem a bit incongruous—it’s your personal phone, not a business line. However, if you use your personal phone for work, you are using battery life, minutes and/or text messages, and may incur data costs if you are needing to use your phone in an area where Wi-Fi is not an option.

Does Federal Law Require the Reimbursement of Cell Phone Usage?

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) does not require employers to reimburse employees for cell phone use, but California law does require cell phone reimbursement per the California Labor Code Section 2802.

However, there is a stipulation with the FLSA which says an employee’s earnings can’t be below the minimum wage. This means that an employer must reimburse business expenses such as the use of a cell phone if the employee’s wage falls below minimum wage after paying for the work-related expenses, according to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).

If you are using your own personal phone for work-related conversations, you are entitled to reimbursement for cell phone use under California law.

Does My California Employer Have to Pay My Entire Monthly Cell Phone Bill?

California Court of Appeals decided in Cochran v. Schwan’s Home Services Inc., 228 Cal.App.4^th1137 (2014) that if an employee uses their own cell phone for work-related calls and messages that the employer must pay “some reasonable percentage of the employee’s cell phone bill.”

The Court added that “because of differences in cell phone plans and work-related scenarios, the calculation of reimbursement must be left to the trial court and parties in each particular case.”

The Court reasoned that if you are using your own cell phone for work-related calls and messages, then you are basically paying a part of your employer’s operating expenses. For this reason, you absolutely should be reimbursed a portion of your cell phone expenses.

What Other Expenses Should My California Employer Reimburse?

California employers should not only reimburse employees for cell phone use, but also for other personal expenses incurred during work, including:

• Internet service and computer
• Transportation, including mileage and parking
• Hotel room expenses
• Other travel expenses
• Uniform purchases
• Purchases of supplies and equipment needed for work

Also, according to California Labor Code Section 2802, employers should reimburse employees for losses and expenditures related to performing their occupational duties when workers have been required to work from home, an issue that has becoming increasingly more relevant since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Work from home policies should take into consideration these kinds of extra expenses, particularly in California.

What About Mileage Reimbursement?

In California, the law says your employer must reimburse “all necessary expenditures or losses” that you incur. This means that the IRS rate might not be adequate to reimburse you for your mileage in California, according to SHRM.

If you are a California employee, you have the right to challenge a reimbursement rate if you believe you are still losing money because of an inadequate calculation.

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.

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