Work & Careers : Shop Talk : Who Pays Repair Bill if Car Used for Job Is Damaged?

Q: I’m a salaried employee who travels around Southern California for my employer. I receive 31 cents a mile and parking costs, but I am wondering if my employer also owes me the costs of repairing any damage that occurs while I’m using my car for work-related purposes. Over the last four years, my windshield has been damaged twice and I had to replace a tire and rim after a flat tire. My employer requires that I have personal auto insurance coverage, but my insurance did not cover the windshield replacements because the repair costs were below my deductible. I also paid for the tire and rim because that cost was below my deductible.

Since I was tending to company business during all of these incidents, isn’t my employer responsible for paying the damages?--S.L., Irvine

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A: An employer is responsible for paying appropriate costs and expenses that you incur while using your vehicle on the job. Most employers pay a set amount per mile. The reimbursement rate established by the Internal Revenue Service is now 31 cents per mile. But that may not be a realistic amount to cover your expenses. Basically, it is up to you to show the employer that the costs of gas, reasonable repair and occasional other unusual damage to your vehicle exceed the per-mile allocation. You shouldn’t hesitate to submit these extra expenses to your employer.

--Don D. Sessions

Employee rights attorney

Mission Viejo

Home Computer Use and Privacy

Q: Our human resources/benefits administrator has been taking home personnel files and copying computer files onto disks--without employees’ and management’s knowledge--to work on her home computer.

I believed that my personnel file was proprietary information, secured within the confines of my employer. Now this information is on someone’s home computer, and I want it removed immediately.

Even if management stops this action, what guarantees do I have that this information is no longer on her home computer and I am protected?

Whose property is it when someone transfers company information onto his or her home PC and what protection against damages should be implemented?--L.R., Los Angeles

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A: The fact that your personnel records are on the home computer of the human resources/benefits administrator is not in itself illegal, particularly if that person works from home. She still has the same duty to protect the confidentiality of those records as if they were stored in her office computer, and they remain company property, not her own.

The difficulty with allowing employees to take this sort of information home with them is in getting it all back when the employee resigns or is terminated.

Employers that allow employees to work at home using confidential or proprietary business information should have a procedure in place to ensure that they return all such information (without keeping copies) at the end of the employment relationship.

If the employer owns the computer, it can simply insist that the employee return the computer. Otherwise, an employer might require employees who work at home to agree to allow a company computer consultant to inspect the employee’s home computer and remove company information from it at the end of the employment relationship.

Either way, the employer should have the departing employee sign a termination certificate stating under penalty of perjury that he or she has returned all company information and has not retained copies.

Unless you have reason to believe that your personnel information has been transmitted to outside parties, your concern about the breach of your rights seems premature.

--James J. McDonald Jr.

Attorney, Fisher & Phillips

Labor law instructor, UC Irvine

When Donation Not Truly Voluntary

Q: I am a state employee. For the last five years our supervisors have been encouraged to donate about $5 each for a cash gift to their boss, who says she prefers cash because she is very selective about her gifts.

With about 20 supervisors (many supervisors give much more than the encouraged $5), this cash gift is substantial.

Even though they fear repercussions, my supervisor and another decided not to “donate” cash this year. I told them that repercussions not only are illegal, but that it is inappropriate for a supervisor to request cash gifts from subordinates.--M.H., San Bernardino

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A: You are correct. Your employer may not compel or coerce any employee or job applicant to purchase something of value for the employer or any other person.

Based on the details that you have provided, your situation would fall within California Labor Code Section 450. A violation is a misdemeanor.

Although there are no remedies explicitly stated in the statute, and no reported cases have indicated whether any any civil remedies exist for a violation of this law, an employee who refused to donate to the supervisor and was subsequently terminated as a consequence could bring a wrongful-termination claim. The employee would have to establish that the termination violated a public policy of the state--in this case the policy described in Labor Code Section 450.

If the claim is successful, the employee would be entitled to compensatory and perhaps punitive damages.

--Diane J. Crumpacker

Management law attorney

Fried, Bird & Crumpacker

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If you have a question about an on-the-job situation, please mail it to Shop Talk, Los Angeles Times, P.O. Box 2008, Costa Mesa, CA 92626; dictate it to (714) 966-7873; or, e-mail it to [email protected]. Include your initials and hometown. The Shop Talk column is designed to answer questions of general interest. It should not be construed as legal advice.