Posted on 08/21/2014 8:24:54 AM PDT by MNDude
In what could be a decisive blow to the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) mega trend, the California Court of Appeal ruled late last week that companies must reimburse employees for work-related use of personal cellphones, as described in the National Law Review.
Specifically, the Court of Appeal in Cochran v. Schwan's Home Service stated:
"We hold that when employees must use their personal cellphones for work-related calls, Labor Code section 2802 requires the employer to reimburse them. Whether the employees have cellphone plans with unlimited minutes or limited minutes, the reimbursement owed is a reasonable percentage of their cellphone bills."
The ruling can open doors to reimbursements for all personal devices, apps and data used partially for work. In one of the great BYOD ironies, CIOs cite the demise of home WiFi reimbursements as evidence that BYOD reimbursements will eventually come to an end, but now home WiFi reimbursements might get a second life in light of this ruling.
(Excerpt) Read more at cio.com ...
As far as my employer is concerned I don’t have a personal cell phone. You want to call me give me a phone.
I created the BYOD program at the large, international bank I work. Fact was at that time, everyone carried two devices: one Blackberry and their own personal smartphone.
When I created the program I showed the bank how they could save $4.25 million dollars a year by eliminating the bank paid for blackberry devices and paying a monthly stipend of $10-$20 to each BYOD user to pay for upgrading data or voice plans and avoid overages to their personal bills.
Instead, our bank got greedy and decided they wanted to save the full $4.6 million dollars and give BYOD users ZERO in a monthly stipend towards their monthly smartphone bills to offset cost.
I hope this ruling comes back to bite the bank I work for's ass. Would serve the stupid, greedy bastards right. It wasn't enough to save $4.25 million/year, no. They wanted the whole $4.6 million and SCREW the employees too.
I hope they get screwed back by this.
Another First World Problem rears its ugly head.
How do you break down the time you are conducting Business on your “personal” Phone with Unlimited Talk and Text?
As my Late Mother always said, some people have way too much time on their hands.
If you don’t own a Cell Phone it’s a different story. If you do, it’s usually 100% better than the one an Employer would provide you in the first place.
Just my $.02, and this is what ties up our Court System.
I am in my early 50s now and I can write that it was so nice when I was younger, only a couple of decades ago, that when I went home or one vacation I could actually be with my family and enjoy my time without the constant intrusion of having to work 24/7 via a stupid cell phone or laptop.
Taking a vacation without even having those things with you is so relaxing, and that is what a vacation is all about.
I worked at a resort here in Wyo that wanted me to use my cell phone as a work line and I said no. After that I just left my phone in my car when I was there.
My company paid for my phone and for my bill and didn’t care if I used it for personal calls. When I upgraded my phone, I decided to buy the phone and the service myself and not ask for reimbursement. I have more control and less annoying discussions over the cost. It’s well worth the price.
Exactly right. That was the point behind the BYOD program I created and implemented where I work. Everyone who had a smartphone hated having to carry a blackberry for work.
The problem with our BYOD implementation was the bank's "leadership" stripped out the renumeration/monthly stipend part I'd put in because they got greedy. With the stipend, the bank would've saved $4.25 million. Without the stipend it was $4.6 million.
It's funny because I forwarded the article above to my Senior Management as soon as I read it on here, I already received a response that they're aware of the ruling as of last week and are already "investigating" creating a monthly stipend program -- which is what I told them to do in the first place.
Dummies.
The worst part for me personally was not getting the $5k "award" for creating a cost savings program for the bank that saved more than $250k/year. The bastards screwed me out of that by claiming the program they implemented was "different" because they didn't include the stipend. Every other detail of "their plan" was identical to what I'd proposed.
Like I said above: I cannot wait for this to bite them in the ass.
One last thing: I will not take any "monthly stipend" for my cellphone from my employer. Doing so obligates me to answer the phone when they call.
Not gonna do it.
I volunteered to use my own Cell Phone rather than the one they wanted to give me.
I need to Sue somebody. I guess I’ll Sue myself. LOL
Bring your own device creates all kinds of problems.
Get a personal device infected with malware, they may pick up company info, too.
Bring your own device blurs the line between personal and professional, meaning companies have fewer qualms with calling you on the way home or you making personal calls at work.
Try enforcing a “no porn/defamatory comments” type policy when people use their own device.
Hope you don’t work for a defense contractor and accidentally read proprietary and classified information on a personal device. It gets confiscated and wiped. A hassle with a work computer, a major personal setback if it is your personal device.
Sing it brother.
I bet top execs got phones. I worked a company which cut all cell phones below director level regardless if the employee was customer facing. They sent an email out touting the employee discount program with a carrier- this translated to pay your own bill. A few of us took the position if you don't pay for a phone, don't call me a home for help. Shortly after implementation, a major customer needed a late night order and nobody was available by phone to release the order. The customer took the relationship elsewhere and in one year the company lost in profits 50 years of cell phone savings!
Looks like it may only apply to CA? I don’t know.
Suggest you print out the ruling info and anonymously send it to someone up the line, who will be very nervous about it. Perhaps some type of class action? Seems the bank should be providing the smart phones and phone service, if they expect the employees to use them for work tasks.
Seems like you should be able to put in again for the $5K award, if they are changing the plan to what you suggested.
It simply comes down to a company being provided a financial benefit for which they do not pay taxes or compensate the owner.
Frankly, if I am providing a financial benefit to a company then I am an investor and deserve a share of the profits.
“If I let you go for 30 days that proves I can live without you for a month and that would prove I can live without you, period. Since I can't, leave is denied. Write it for a shorter period of time.”
Right after I retired from the military I started work with a small business (8a) while I was also starting my own company. My contract stipulated I was to get 1% of any contracts I brought in and in the second month I was able to get a three year 70 million contract signed.
I never saw a penny because the owner said that since the office person filled out much of the standard paperwork, and that she attended a single meeting after the contract award, I did not bring in the contract on my own and thus was not able to get my 1%.
I was once told by a wise, elderly gentleman to never accept an IT position in a financial institution. He said they were all about cutting costs and maximizing profits and it was their job to know how to do it. He recommended DoD, healthcare and insurance companies. In his words: “there will always be wars, people will always be sick and people will always need insurance.
But all three of those industries, like the bankers, know how to “cut costs and maximize profits” also.
Besides, as long as there are wars, people will borrow money to pay for them...
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