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I have been working for a company going on close to 6 years now. I have been driving my personal vehicle and have not been reimbursed for utilizing my vehicle for business purposes. I am also required to carry commercial insurance on my vehicle as well. My manager have stated to me that my mileage was included into my salary, however there is no line item stating my car allowance.Furthermore my company policy states that "all employees utilizing their personal vehicles will be reimbursed at the current mileage rate as provided by the IRS".What legal rights do I have to recover expenses I have incurred? Please advise.
Optional Information: Country relating to Question: United States State (if USA): Florida Already Tried: I'm currently working w/ my HR Dept.
Florida law recognizes a limited right to sue under a theory of "promissory estoppel" where an employer makes a promise to an employee upon which the employee relies to his or her detriment. If a written policy states that reimbursement will be provided to employees for use of their personal vehicles within the scope of employment, and you rely on that policy to your detriment, then you have an enforceable contract against the employer and you can sue to enforce that contract. See, e.g., GOLDEN v. COMPLETE HOLDINGS, INC., 818 F.Supp. 1495 (1993).However, there is a downside here. If you sue the employer, you can be fired for doing so. Which means you may get your mileage, and lose your job.As an alternative, you could ask the U.S. Department of Labor to investigate and get your mileage reimbursement as part of the employment contract. However, the USDOL does not have to take the case, so it's not a guaranteed solution. The reason for the USDOL route is that if the government does accept the case, then you would be immune from a retaliatory employment termination -- to do so would give USDOL grounds to force reinstatement of your job, were you fired.Those are the options. To contact USDOL, call: 1-866-487-9243. To sue in Small Claims court, see this link, for more info.Hope this helps. NOTICE: My goal here is to entertain while educating the public about the law. I hope my answer is useful and informative to you. During our conversation, the website may ask you to rate my answer. If you rate my answer lower than the middle rating, then the website retains your entire payment, and I receive nothing. It is entirely your choice as to how you rate my answer. However, because your payment to me is in the nature of a donation/gift, rather than as compensation for any services rendered, you are entitled to know how your rating affects the final distribution of your donation. If you need to contact me again, please put my user id at the beginning of your question ("To Socrateaser"), and the system will send me an alert. Please Click the following link for IMPORTANT LEGAL INFORMATION. Thanks and best wishes!
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