In Stewart v. RadioShack Corp., (US District Court Northern District 07-4499) the court held that an employee’s expense reimbursement rights can’t be waived because they failed to follow internal company procedures for requesting reimbursement. According to the court, as long as an employer knows, or should know, that employees are incurring work-related expenses, the employer has a duty to ensure that employees are being reimbursed for their expenses. This right to reimbursement does not expire until the statute of limitations for filing a lawsuit.
Bottom line: Instead of refusing late expense reimbursement requests, encourage employees to get their expenses in, and have documentation in which the employee acknowledges that all expenses have been reimbursed.
