Corporate Expenses Questioned by HR- Legal Rights & Ramifications:

[ds45jk]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? FL

Corporate Expenses Questioned by HR- Legal Rights & Ramifications:

have a Corporate Credit Card in my name issued by my full time employer. I signed a document from HR regarding the Card that stated the following:

“I have applied for a corporate credit card. I understand and agree that:

· I bear ultimate responsibility for the card
· I will only use the card for authorized company expenses
· If I misuse the card, I authorize the company to recover the funds through payroll deductions for any amounts incorrectly claimed. I further understand that I may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination for misuse of the card.
· If I separate from the company, I will return the card with a final reconciliation of all expenditures immediately upon my separation.”

I am being questioned about a number of expenses on my corporate credit card. The charges in question are in somewhat of a grey area, as they are work related, but it is not clear if they are in compliance with company policy. According to my understanding of the document I signed above, it appears that my employer has the right to recover these funds and can also terminate my employment. My question is- does my employer have the right to recover these funds if they were not personal charges but in fact charges that were obtained at approved businesses? Also, is the worst that can happen that they attempt to recover the funds and terminate my employment? Does the company have any grounds to come after me from a legal standpoint in reference to recovering these charges? Thank you.

I also was put on suspension. I was just told this verbally over the phone and never received anything writing. I was never given a reason for suspension or told how long the suspension is for or if it was paid or not.

 

[cbg]

You are not in one of the two states where there are any laws regarding reimbursement of expenses so they have the legal right to make all the rules related to the card and fire you if they don't like your shoes.

 

[commentator]

If you are on unpaid suspension for more than a couple of days, assume you are fired and file immediately for unemployment insurance. You can explain the situation and let them contact the company to ask about your status. At this point, the company will either call you back to work or confirm that you are on "permanent unpaid leave" in other words, terminated. But any time you are off work without pay, you should file for unemployment benefits. Don't allow them to let you dangle in limbo for any length of time.

That you have misused the company credit card, in their opinion, is not necessarily a valid misconduct reason for termination for unemployment purposes, though it is perfectly legal from an employment law point of view. If, as you said, the expenses may be somewhat grey area, but you thought they were defensible expenses at the time, you may be able to be approved for unemployment. But as far as the legality of their denying to pay for the things they don't think are job related, and for attempting to recoup the expenses from your salary, as long as they pay you at least minimum wage for any hours you have actually worked for them, they can very likely take the rest of your paycheck to recoup these charges and fire you.

 

[cbg]

Commentator makes a good point I should have mentioned. Florida does not have any laws related to what deductions can be taken from your pay; however, Federal law says that deductions from pay cannot take you below the Federal minimum wage, plus overtime. So while they CAN take the deductions, they cannot take your entire check.