In California your employer must repay you for all necessary expenses you take on to do your job. That generally includes mileage for required driving, tools and equipment the job demands, and, when the job requires it, a reasonable percentage of your personal cell phone bill. If you have been covering necessary work costs yourself, that money may be owed back to you, and the right cannot be waived by agreement.
In this guide
The rule: necessary work expenses come back to you
Labor Code section 2802 requires an employer to indemnify an employee for all necessary expenditures or losses the employee incurs in direct consequence of doing the job. The test is generally whether the expense was a necessary and reasonable part of the work, not whether the employer expressly told you to spend the money. If the job could not reasonably be done without it, the cost is ordinarily the employer's to bear, and shifting a necessary work expense onto you is generally unlawful.
This can cover a wide range of ordinary costs: mileage and vehicle wear for required driving between sites, tools and safety equipment the job requires, required uniforms in many cases, and business travel. Because the statute is about actual necessary cost, a flat allowance that falls short of what the work reasonably costs you may not satisfy it.
Cell phones and required remote work
When your job requires you to use your personal cell phone for calls, texts, or apps, California courts have held that the employer must reimburse a reasonable percentage of your phone bill, even if you have an unlimited plan and would have paid the same amount anyway. The point of the law is that the employer, not the employee, should carry the cost of the tools the job depends on.
The same principle can reach required remote work, but the details are less settled. Necessary expenses actually incurred for required remote work may be reimbursable, subject to what is reasonable and how mixed personal and work use is allocated, questions courts have flagged rather than fully resolved. Employers often ignore these costs because each one looks small; across a year and across everyone required to use a personal phone or work from home, an unreimbursed share can become a real sum, which is why expense claims are frequently brought as class or representative actions on behalf of the affected group.
You cannot be made to waive it, and how long you have
The right to reimbursement cannot be signed away. Labor Code section 2804 makes any agreement to waive section 2802 null and void, so a handbook clause or an onboarding form that says you accept your own expenses generally does not hold up. An expense claim in California is generally subject to a three-year limit, and a four-year period may apply when it is pursued as an unfair business practice, depending on the remedy.
Practical proof is usually straightforward: mileage logs, receipts, phone bills, and the job requirement that made the expense necessary. Bringing those to a free review lets an attorney estimate what may be owed, and whether the same policy shorted a whole team the same way.
Questions, answered.
My employer never told me to spend the money. Is it still reimbursable?
Often yes. The test under section 2802 is generally whether the expense was a necessary and reasonable consequence of doing your job, not whether you were expressly ordered to spend it. If the work could not reasonably be done without the cost, such as driving between required sites or using your phone for required calls, the employer ordinarily has to reimburse it whether or not it gave a specific instruction.
Source [1]
I have an unlimited phone plan, so it costs me nothing extra. Do I still get reimbursed?
Generally yes. California courts have held that reimbursement of a reasonable percentage of your phone bill is required when the job requires you to use your personal phone, even on an unlimited plan where you would have paid the same amount. The law does not let an employer benefit from your phone for free simply because your plan is flat-rate.
Source [3]
I signed a form agreeing to cover my own expenses. Does that count?
Generally no. Labor Code section 2804 makes any agreement to waive the reimbursement right null and void. A handbook clause or onboarding form that shifts necessary work expenses onto you is generally unenforceable, and you may still recover what you were owed despite having signed it.
Source [4]