New law lets company charge employees for company car.

[ejpoeta]

Now, this isn't a company car you can use for personal use. This is a car FOR WORK that is only to be used for work. My brother's company has been squeezing them for years now more and more. My husband used to work there and left a couple of years ago after 2 attempts to unionize failed. Well, now the company is charging them for the car, claiming that the first 30 minutes of their drive is their personal time. Therefore this allows them to charge the employee $138/mo for the car. This would not be a big deal if the employees were actually allowed to use the car for personal use. But they can't. They do not go to an office everyday. They work at home and drive to different sites all over the area fixing things for this company. So when they get in the car in the morning, they are in essence already at work. They are going to their first site.

I have suggested they park their vehicles at the parts shed and then their commute is from home to the shed in THEIR car. My husband mentioned that each person's commute to the shed is different, too... some live 5 minutes away, some live 40 min to an hour away. Also, the commute to the site is different for everyone and would be different everyday. Their first worksite could be 5 minutes away, or it could be 4 hours away.

Part of me thinks, well, they didn't want a union.... this is what happens. But then the other part of me gets fuming mad at what these companies can get away with. I just wanted to vent, and thought maybe someone more knowledgeable than myself could maybe talk me down, so to speak. thanks for listening.

[B Calm]

1. I drove company trucks for years. We were paid by the mile. The time

spent doing the pre trip inspection, fueling truck, washing windshield, waiting on your loads, cleaning, post trip safety inspection, filling out paper work and an occasional drug test was all done for free.

[Major Nikon]

2. If they aren't getting paid for those 30 minutes it could be a FLSA issue

If they are commuting to an office, then it would be considered commuting time and wouldn't be compensatable, but I don't think going straight from home to a remote site can be considered commuting time. This assumes he is FLSA non-exempt (meaning he is subject to the FLSA). Many large employers will specify if they are FLSA exempt or non-exempt on their pay sheets. If not he can inquire with whoever does his HR.

Travel That is All in a Day's Work: Time spent by an employee in travel as part of their principal activity, such as travel from job site to job site during the workday, is work time and must be counted as hours worked.

http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs22.htm

[ejpoeta]

4. thank you so much. i sent this to my brother so he could look into it.

[Le Taz Hot]

3. Could you please cite this "new law?"

Is this "new law" federal or state?

Thanks in advance.

[ejpoeta]

5. new irs guide to fringe benefits i guess. i'll get the info in awhile.

have to take my daughter to school.

[ejpoeta]

9. info from the department of labor

http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs22.htm

I am guessing this is the part they are using as justification:

Home to Work Travel: An employee who travels from home before the regular workday and returns to his/her home at the end of the workday is engaged in ordinary home to work travel, which is not work time.

This is the part the post above mentions:

Travel That is All in a Day's Work: Time spent by an employee in travel as part of their principal activity, such as travel from job site to job site during the workday, is work time and must be counted as hours worked.

[TBF]

6. Is this really a law? In my husband's firms

there are many things the partnership used to subsidize and they take them away here & there. It is annoying but not illegal.

But, yes, unions. People are now seeing the effects of all the union bashing. I grew up in the 70s with a father who worked in a factory. He's a small town guy, not very sophisticated. But he's also not stupid and is pretty good at calling things out for what they are. He always said "unions aren't perfect but we wouldn't have anything without them". And of course when Scott Walker was elected governor of Wisconsin I said "oh I see you have a new governor" and he said "aw, that guy. He just wants to break the unions". My dad may be almost 70 but he knows what he's looking at. I wish more younger people were half as savvy ...

[tammywammy]

7. Charging employees for personal use of a company car isn't new.

Your brother's issue is that they are not allowed to use the vehicle for personal use and are being charged for it. As mentioned up thread, a commute from home to office is considered personal use, but since he's going to a work site probably not.

[ejpoeta]

10. well yes, if they were allowed to use the vehicle for personal use, then it would make sense.

My husband's employer charges them for personal use, but he can use it for personal use. My brother has never been able to use his vehicle for his own purposes. Only to go to work.

[Historic NY]

8. Something in their interpretation of IRS rules

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p15b.pdf