Overdue Business Expenses [USA] [closed]

Question

Based in NH. Been with the company for 7 years.

I have quite a large outstanding business expense (over $20k) with my employer, and there is no sign of it being paid off any time soon despite being told it will be. It has accumulated over time, being a combination of client expenses and running costs. I have regularly submitted my expenses, so it's not a surprise.

Employer is saying money is tight at the moment, but the amount is causing me problems meeting my rent.

Are there any options/suggestions I can do to get the money sooner?

If I leave the company for another job do I still get the money?

If the company goes bankrupt do I lose it all?

Answer 1

There is no Federal requirement to reimburse employees for work-related expenses

Unless the effect of those expenses pushes the wages below the Federal minimum, there is no statutory or common law requirement for the employer to reimburse.

Contract law

Notwithstanding the above, the employer and employee can contract that such expenses will be reimbursed, either one-off or on an ongoing basis. This might be a term of the employment contract or a seperate collateral contract.

How and when the reimbursement were to occur would be governed by the terms of the contract.

State and local law

Currently, 11 states, the District of Columbia, and Seattle, Washington, have laws about reimbursing employees for necessary work-related expenses.

Fortunately for you, one of those states is new-hampshire:

An employee who incurs expenses in connection with his or her employment and at the request of the employer, except those expenses normally borne by the employee as a precondition of employment, which are not paid for by wages, cash advance, or other means from the employer, shall be reimbursed for the payment of the expenses within 30 days of the presentation by the employee of proof of payment.

You can ask “the department” to enforce the law or take action in any court of competent jurisdiction. Legally you cannot be fired for reporting a violation of the law or in retaliation for enforcing your rights but doing either is likely to tick off your employer. By the way, the state might send him to jail for not paying you.

If you leave, you are still owed the money.

If the company goes bankrupt, your entitlement will rank alongside other unsecured creditors so, no, you probably won’t get paid, or, if you do, it will be cents in the dollar 5 years from now.

Answer 2

If they don't pay their employees, they definitely won't pay their ex-employees.

I suggest your employer is about to go out of business. I have never heard of a company not paying employee expenses, this is the equivalent of not making payroll, which will be next.

I am guessing there is about nothing you can do here other than appeal to the owner to help you out. If you quit they won't even care about that. If the company goes out of business, wages and owed expenses will get paid out after secured creditors (basically banks) but in front of suppliers.

Please stop loaning this company your money.

Getting a lawyer will lead to you getting fired before they go out of business, and will likely result in you paying a lawyer with no more chance of getting paid out than without one.