Wage and hour
California Expense Reimbursement Lawyers
Your phone. Your internet. Your car. If your job requires it, your employer pays for it, and no policy or signature changes that.
Labor Code 2802: The Statute Your Employer Hopes You Never Read
Section 2802 requires employers to reimburse all necessary expenditures and losses you incur as a direct consequence of your duties.
It is non-waivable. No signature or policy can erase it. Recovery includes interest from the date you incurred each expense, plus attorney’s fees under section 2802(c).
The rule does not care about your phone plan or your salary. A required cost is the employer’s cost.
What Expenses Must Be Reimbursed?
Cell Phone and Internet for Remote Work
A reasonable percentage of your bill is owed even on an unlimited plan, under Cochran v. Schwan’s Home Service, and remote or hybrid employees add home internet.
Worked math: a $45 monthly phone share plus a $30 monthly internet share, across 36 months, is $2,700 for one employee.
Mileage and Vehicle Costs
Personal car use between job sites, on client visits, or for deliveries is reimbursable. The IRS standard mileage rate is the common safe harbour.
Worked math at 70 cents per mile: 400 miles a month is $280, about $3,360 a year, or $10,080 across the three-year lookback. Ordinary commuting is excluded.
Uniforms, Tools and Equipment
Branded or distinctive required clothing, tools of the trade, PPE, laptops, software, and home-office equipment where you are required to work from home.
Training and Licensing Costs
Costs required to keep the job. If your employer is also demanding you repay training on the way out, see stay-or-pay clauses.
Employer Tactics and Counters
“We Pay a Stipend”
A stipend works only if it covers the reasonable cost. Any shortfall is still owed.
“You Chose to Work From Home”
Where remote work is required or expected, the expenses follow.
“Submit Within 30 Days or Lose It”
Internal deadlines cannot defeat a statutory right.
Silence
No policy, no form, no reimbursement. The absence of a process is not a defense.
What Is My Claim Worth?
Sum the categories above, then consider the class angle. Identical no-reimbursement policies across a workforce make efficient class and PAGA claims.
Deadlines
3 years, and an attorney can assess a 4-year UCL extension. Interest accrues from each expense date.
What to Do Right Now
- Pull 12 months of phone and internet bills.
- Export a mileage log or app history.
- Photograph required uniforms and tools, with receipts.
- Save the policy, or the email telling you to use your own device.
You can keep working. There is no need to quit to claim.
Frequently Asked Questions
My employer never asked me to buy anything, but I need my phone for work.
If it is a necessary expenditure, a reasonable share is owed.
I get a $20 stipend. Is that enough?
Only if it covers your reasonable actual cost.
Can I Recover Expenses From a Job I Already Left?
Yes, within the 3-year window.
Does 2802 Cover My Home-Office Chair and Monitor?
Where the equipment is required for mandated remote work, it can.
I am a 1099 contractor. Does this apply?
Contractors reclassified as employees recover expenses too. See misclassification.
What About Actual Gas Cost Versus the Mileage Rate?
The mileage rate is a proxy for all vehicle costs, and an actual-cost method is also available.
Employment Law Resources
- Labor Code 2802, necessary business expense reimbursement: leginfo
- California Labor Commissioner, business expense reimbursement guidance: dir.ca.gov
- IRS standard mileage rates, confirm the current-year figure: irs.gov
Tell Us What Happened
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