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Personal Cell Phone Use for Work Must be Reimbursed

Photo of the building housing the court that decided a case about reimbursing personal cell phone use by employees

California Court of Appeal for the Second District (Los Angeles)

This post discusses a 2014 case (Cochran v. Schwan’s Home Service, Inc.) which held that California employers must reimburse employees who use a personal cell phone for work.

Plaintiff Colin Cochran, as class representative, brought a class action lawsuit against Schwan’s Home Service (“Home Service”) on behalf of 1,500 service managers employed by Home Service. The suit sought, among other things, reimbursement of the managers’ work-related personal cell phone expenses. (more…)