California Judge Hangs Up on Employers Who Refuse to Reimburse Cell Phone Usage

Employers must always reimburse employees for reasonable expenses incurred through mandatory business use of personal mobile phones in order to comply with Section 2802 of the California Labor Code, a state appeals court decided Aug. 12 (Cochran v. Schwan’s Home Serv., Inc., 2014 BL 223113, Cal. Ct. App., B247160, 8/12/14).

Employers must pay some reasonable percentage of the employee’s mobile phone bill, regardless of whether the employee or a third party paid for the phone charges, Justice Judith Ashmann-Gerst of the California Court of Appeal said. If an employer isn’t required to reimburse expenses tied to mandatory ...