Employer Could Be Required to Repay Employee if Tools Are Stolen
Question: I am a professional mechanic working for a large fleet shop servicing rental trucks.
Is my employer responsible for my tools and toolbox, worth about $30,000? If the shop is burglarized and my tools are stolen, do I have any legal recourse?
--J.M., Anaheim
Answer: The employer would be responsible for reimbursing you under the following circumstances:
* The employer requires you to supply your own tools, or it is the custom in your trade or craft for employees to supply their own tools.
* The employer requires you to leave your tools on its premises, or the tools are too heavy to be transported routinely to and from your employer’s property.
At least one California court has held that in these situations, an employer has to indemnify the employee for the loss of his or her tools.
An employer can require employees to provide their own tools if employees earn at least double the state minimum wage--a total of $12.50 an hour in 2001 and $13.50 an hour starting Jan. 1, 2002. It also would have to be customary in the employee’s craft or trade for the workers to provide their tools.
--Stacy D. Shartin
Employment law attorney
Seyfarth Shaw
All-Expenses-Paid Trip Becomes Taxing
Question: Employees at my firm who achieve a sales goal earn an all-expenses-paid trip to Cancun for four days.
For the first time this year, we’ve been informed that all costs will be reported to the IRS as earned income, which is subject to income taxes. For most of us, this could amount to one-third of the cost of the trip--a tax liability of as much as $2,000.
Can we demand that we be paid the added compensation in cash rather than taking the trip? As of now, the company is saying that the trip is a team-building exercise and that our choice is to take the trip or not.
--E.W., Manhattan Beach
Answer: Since you were led to believe you had earned an all-expenses-paid vacation, it is pretty outrageous for your employer to expect you to pay one-third of the cost of the trip in taxes.
Some employers, in offering an all-expenses-paid trip, increase the amount to offset any tax ramifications. If that is what your employer implied when the trip was offered to you as an inducement for performance, you should try to hold the company to it.
Additionally, there would be no tax obligation to employees if this is a required trip or even one for a specific corporate purpose such as team-building. If the trip has a business purpose, it might be considered a business expense that employers would be required to pay.
The company probably has no legal obligation to pay you the value of the trip if you don’t take it. But it’s worth the inquiry since your employer apparently failed to inform you about the tax ramifications in a timely manner.
The company could be facing a morale problem, if not a legal one.
--Don D. Sessions
Employee rights attorney
Mission Viejo
Prorating of Raise During Maternity Leave
Question: The last time I received my annual review and pay adjustment, the increase was prorated for the time I was on maternity leave. As a result, I received 75% of the increase I would have received had I not been on maternity leave.
Human resources says “anyone on any kind of leave is prorated because you are only rewarded for the time you’ve actually worked.” Is this legal?
I thought that under the law you couldn’t be penalized for being on maternity leave. Because every raise I get will be based on my yearly salary, this has a long-term effect.
--J.M., Redondo Beach
Answer: The type of leave policy you describe is legal, since your human resources department states that employees on any kind of leave receive prorated bonuses.
Unless your employer treats maternity leaves less favorably than it does other types of temporary disability leaves, it is within its right to prorate your bonus to reflect the time you were out on leave. In fact, it is common for employers to do so.
If you have evidence that your employer treats non-maternity disability leaves more favorably, despite what human resources said, you may wish to contact either the state discrimination agency, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, or the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Either of these agencies can help you determine whether you have a legitimate pregnancy disability discrimination claim.
--Diane J. Crumpacker
Management law attorney
Fried, Bird & Crumpacker
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 shoptalk@latimes.com. 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. Recent Shop Talk columns are available at https://www.latimes.com/shoptalk.
