A federal district court in Washington recently ruled that employees who work in Seattle can sue under the Seattle Wage Theft Ordinance if their employer fails to reimburse them for reasonably necessary business use of their personal cell phones. An employee in Seattle filed a lawsuit alleging that he and other employees used their personal cell phones for work on a regular basis, such as responding to text messages from their supervisors, without reimbursement. The court agreed the employee had a legitimate basis to bring a claim and allowed the litigation to continue (Arnold v. Marriott International, WD Wash, March 2026).
Under the ordinance (SMC 14.20), employers are required to reimburse Seattle employees for reasonably necessary work expenses, which the judge said includes cell phone usage. Even if a worker’s business use doesn’t increase their personal mobile phone costs, the employer is still required to pay for the portion that is reasonably attributable to business usage. Any expenses that are incurred by employees to do their job must be reimbursed. The ordinance applies to all employees, regardless of exempt status, who work within Seattle city limits (and even reaches occasional Seattle workers after they work more than two hours within Seattle during a two-week period).
Tips: No other courts have interpreted this part of the ordinance yet, so the judge was breaking new legal ground. One resource the judge found useful was the Wage Theft Ordinance Q&A (Sept. 19, 2025) available on the Seattle Office of Labor Standards webpage for Materials and Resources, under “Laws Covering Most Seattle-Based Employers and Employees.” The judge also considered court decisions interpreting a similar law, California Labor Code 2802. See our related Vigilant newsletter article, “Q&A: Reimbursing employee expenses can be necessary.”
Action Required: Review Personal Device Use and Business Expense Reimbursements for Seattle Employees
If you have employees in Seattle, you should review whether they are using personal devices for work, including cell phones, tablets, or home computers. For example, are supervisors communicating with employees about work issues on their personal mobile phones? Are any employees using their personal internet service to telework from home? If so, and if these activities are reasonably necessary for an employee to perform their job (versus a purely personal choice by the employee), you should ensure you are reimbursing appropriately for business use. This rule applies to all business expenses including mileage, meals, lodging, and other associated costs of doing business. Members: contact your Vigilant Law Group employment attorney if you have questions about a specific situation related to expenses and reimbursements. Also, check out our Model Form, Expense Report, if you’re looking for a basic form to document employee business expenses.
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