- Jurisdiction
- California
I work as a technical support specialist for a company that provides company cars for those that routinely travel for work. Some travel to customer sites everyday and put 10s of thousands of miles on their cars every year. I do not. I work from home about 60-80% of the time. When I do have to travel for work, I drive to a customer site maybe 3 or 4 times a year and to a factory I support perhaps once a year. Otherwise, I tend to drive to the airport, then back after I return from my business trip. Most of us, including me, are paid hourly (yes, the company does a good job adhering to the 8-12 hour 1.5x and 12+ hour 2x pay rule for California). I have always been paid "door-to-door", even on business trips, meaning I am on the clock as soon as I leave my home or hotel until I get back (sans lunch time). I have a personal car, so I that's what I use to visit friends, go to dinner, etc.
The policy is that we are supposed to drive 7500 business miles each year to justify having a car. I typically have driven somewhere around 5-6 thousand. My role is changing slightly, so now I may only drive about 4000 miles.
Here's the legal issue... my company is instituting a monthly $150 flat fee for personal use. We always had to report how many total miles driven and distinguish how many were for business and personal. Typically, I put zero for personal, since I have my personal car.
The company policy is now saying that the distance from home to the first stop and from the last to home are considered personal use. The nearest customer site I have visited is only about 10 miles away, but they are more typically between 30 and 120 miles. The nearest factory I support is nearly 400 miles away. I would yearly make a drive to a factory just to try to get up to the 7500-mile limit, but still would fall short by 1500-2500 miles each year. I do not commute to an office (there is no local office where I live). I only know of a handful of people who use a company car to commute to/from a local office (we are a gigantic company. over 70K people worldwide).
So, the questions are:
Can my company force me to pay this personal use fee?
Can my company force me to claim that a 40-mile trip to/from the airport for a business trip is personal?
Can my company force me to claim a 400-mile trip to a company factory is personal?
Can my company claim I'm tallying personal miles when I'm on the company time clock as working?
If they take my company car away from me, can the company force me to use my personal car as opposed to taking a Lyft to the airport or renting a car to travel 100 miles each way to a customer site?
Thank you very much in advance for any advice you may provide.
The policy is that we are supposed to drive 7500 business miles each year to justify having a car. I typically have driven somewhere around 5-6 thousand. My role is changing slightly, so now I may only drive about 4000 miles.
Here's the legal issue... my company is instituting a monthly $150 flat fee for personal use. We always had to report how many total miles driven and distinguish how many were for business and personal. Typically, I put zero for personal, since I have my personal car.
The company policy is now saying that the distance from home to the first stop and from the last to home are considered personal use. The nearest customer site I have visited is only about 10 miles away, but they are more typically between 30 and 120 miles. The nearest factory I support is nearly 400 miles away. I would yearly make a drive to a factory just to try to get up to the 7500-mile limit, but still would fall short by 1500-2500 miles each year. I do not commute to an office (there is no local office where I live). I only know of a handful of people who use a company car to commute to/from a local office (we are a gigantic company. over 70K people worldwide).
So, the questions are:
Can my company force me to pay this personal use fee?
Can my company force me to claim that a 40-mile trip to/from the airport for a business trip is personal?
Can my company force me to claim a 400-mile trip to a company factory is personal?
Can my company claim I'm tallying personal miles when I'm on the company time clock as working?
If they take my company car away from me, can the company force me to use my personal car as opposed to taking a Lyft to the airport or renting a car to travel 100 miles each way to a customer site?
Thank you very much in advance for any advice you may provide.
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