Use Your Cell Phone For Work, Get Reimbursed By Your Employer
Has your employer ever asked you to make or receive business calls on your personal cell phone? If you worked for Schwan’s home delivery, you were expected to use your own phone without reimbursement of any expenses. Colin Cochran, a service manager with Schwan’s filed suit against his employer after Schwan’s refused to reimburse his cellphone bill for business related calls. Mr. Cochran was joined by other service managers and filed a Class Action lawsuit. The case made its way to the Court of Appeals in California (Case No. B247160), in which the Court held that if an employee uses his or her personal cellphone for work-related calls, then the employer must reimburse the employee for a reasonable amount of their cellphone bill.
The Court used Section 2802 of the California Labor Code as a basis for its decision which reads:
(a) An employer shall indemnify his or her employee for all necessary expenditures or losses incurred by the employee in direct consequence of the discharge of his or her duties, or of his or her obedience to the directions of the employer, even though unlawful, unless the employee, at the time of obeying the directions, believed them to be unlawful.
(b) All awards made by a court or by the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement for reimbursement of necessary expenditures under this section shall carry interest at the same rate as judgments in civil actions. Interest shall accrue from the date on which the employee incurred the necessary expenditure or loss.
(c) For purposes of this section, the term “necessary expenditures or losses” shall include all reasonable costs, including, but not limited to, attorney’s fees incurred by the employee enforcing the rights granted by this section.
The case will be remanded back to the lower court for class-action certification wherein the class, totaling 1,500 members, will have the opportunity to sue Schwan’s Home Service collectively.
If you have any questions about this article, or believe you may be owed money by your current or former employer, CALL TOADY. Our experienced, San Jose Employment Attorneys are waiting to help you.
Photo Credit: Shutterstock/Roman Samborskyi