Do I have to pay back?

[omer12345]

What is the name of your state (California)? California

I work for a company in California and at the beginning of last year they gave me a cell phone telling me all my bills will be paid by them. I was told ok to use for self and for the company. One year later, they came up to me saying that they wont cover my overseas bills and gave me a bill over $4000. I didn't sign any contract with them with regards to phone. When I got the phone my collaegues told me that they use the phone often during their overseas trips and they dont have to pay nothing, so I started using my phone for personal overseas reasons as well. Could you please advise me on this issue? The point which I tried to make is if it was not allowed for me to have overseas calls, the department was just waiting for one year to pass by and then come up with this huge bill?. No one told me it's costing as much, how am I supposed to know? I am using it for one year. I mean if someone would have alerted me the first month I made overseas call, around a year ago, I would have stopped it then.

Your help would be really appreciated.

 

[swalsh411]

You have already posted your question in the approporate forum. It is considered rude and spam to post in multiple forums. Your question has nothing to do with "starting and operating a business".

 

[LordofBooks]

Generally, the contract terms for your cell phone use will govern what is and isn't paid. If you're looking at your issue from strictly a legal perspective, then your company telling you that you're allowed to use your phone for personal and work reasons and that it would be paid should be what happens. While an argument can be made that they only intended your phone to be used domestically, since they didn't specify this and they knew you'd be working overseas, they should still pay for it. Also, your co-workers also used their phones overseas and their bills were paid for. All of this points to your bill being covered by your company.

However, the reality is usually much different since you don't have any documented proof of what is and isn't covered by your company. Waging a legal battle would be very difficult since it would only be your word against your company's. My advice would be go talk to whoever is in charging of company expense and explain to them what you were told. Try to get them cover the bill and be sure to also tell them about your co-worker's bills being covered overseas. Also, be sure to get a written guideline of what will and won't be covered in the future.