Who should pay for work-related cellphone bills?

Employees’ right to reimbursement
COLIN Cochran sued his employer, Schwan’s Home Service, Inc., in a class action on behalf of about 1,500 customer service managers who were not reimbursed for expenses pertaining to the work-related use of their personal cell phones.
Under California law, employees are entitled to reimbursements for expenses incurred in direct consequence of the discharge of their duties. The purpose of this statute is to prevent employers from passing their operating expenses on to their employees.
The employees argued that as customer service managers, they incurred cellphone expenses which were necessary to carry out their duties. Their employer knew or had reason to know that the employees incurred these expenses but did not reimburse the employees for such expenses.
The employer argued that there are no class claims because the employees did not have common damages to sue as a group. The employer noted that “many people now have unlimited data plans for which they do not actually incur an additional expense when they use their cell phone. In order to determine whether an expense was incurred for. . . business use will require an examination of each [employee’s] cell phone plan[.]” If, for instance, the employee had unlimited minutes, then the employee did not incur an expense and was, therefore, not entitled to reimbursement. Also, there was an issue as to whether the employees themselves or other persons actually pay for their cellphone bills.
The Court of Appeal noted the following questions for decision: Does an employer always have to reimburse an employee for the reasonable expense of the work-related use of a personal cell phone? Or is reimbursement necessary only if the employee incurred an extra expense because of this use?
The appellate court ruled that reimbursement is always required. When employees must use their personal cell phones for work-related calls, then they are incurring an expense. Whether the employees have cell phone plans with unlimited minutes or limited minutes, the reimbursement owed is a reasonable percentage of their cell phone bills. It does not matter whether the employee may pass on the expense to a family member or friend, or to a carrier that has to then write off a loss. It is also irrelevant whether the employee changed plans to accommodate worked-related cell phone use.
The court added that the details of the employee’s cell phone plan has nothing to do with the employer’s liability. Thus, employers are prohibited from digging into the private lives of their employees to find out how they handle their finances when it comes to cellphone payment. To prove employer liability, the employees need only show that they were required to use their personal cell phones to make work-related calls, and they were not reimbursed.
Based on its interpretation of the law, the appellate court directed the trial court to allow the employees to sue as a group. As for how to compute the employees’ damages, the trial court was directed to allow the employees to use statistical sampling evidence to establish either liability or damages.
Other than cellphone use, employees (or workers misclassified as independent contractors) are also entitled to reimbursement for the following expenses: fuel, insurance, transportation, living, and other travel expenses; purchasing, laundering or repairing uniforms required by the employer; purchasing supplies, tools, materials, or equipment; “supper money” for when an employee is requested to work during the evening; and excess home-to-work travel expenses.

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C. Joe Sayas, Jr., Esq. is trial attorney who has obtained several million dollar recoveries for his clients against employers and insurance companies. He has been selected as a Super Lawyer by the Los Angeles Magazine, featured in the cover of Los Angeles Daily Journal’s Verdicts and Settlements, and is a member of the Million Dollar-Advocates Forum.