Dealing with Expenses Cheats

While MPs argue about the rights and wrongs of their own system for claiming expenses, employers should be checking their policies too according to a Cumbria employment lawyer.

Employment solicitor Joanne Stronach from Burnetts in Carlisle says that companies should be looking at their own expenses policies to ensure they are not open to abuse.

Joanne said, “Most policies allow employees to claim back “business expenses reasonably incurred”, but that leaves a lot of room open for interpretation and abuse. I would say policies need to be more specific and ensure that a low threshold is in place with special permission needed for larger amounts.”

Resourcefulness with expenses or the personal use of business equipment is not a new phenomenon. Amongst the cases Burnetts has seen are employees using the work van to tow their caravan on a weekend away, claiming for a meals with a girlfriend (not wife) and perennial misuse of the company petrol card.

In Joanne’s experience, many companies have no policy at all and information on what can and can’t be claimed is passed on verbally around the workplace.

She said, “If what, and how much, can be claimed has become a matter of custom and practice, it is much more difficult to argue that an employee has acted unreasonably when you want to take disciplinary action over what is, in effect, theft. Employers should ensure they have something in writing especially at a time when businesses are counting every penny.”

For further information on expenses policies or any other employment law issue, contact Joanne Stronach on 01228 552222.

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14th May 2009