This note covers employee expense reimbursement in Iowa. It addresses authorization, timing, remote-work costs, agreements, and remedies. The broader topic is covered in the expense reimbursement practice guide.
Must an employer in Iowa reimburse employee business expenses?
Iowa employers must pay expenses they authorize and employees incur, either in advance or within 30 days after an employee submits an expense claim. If an employer refuses all or part of a claim, it must give the employee a written justification within the same payment period.
Sources for this answer
Iowa Code § 91A.3(6) requires advance payment or reimbursement within thirty days after a claim for expenses authorized by the employer and incurred by the employee.
6. Expenses by the employee which are authorized by the employer and incurred by the employee shall either be reimbursed in advance of expenditure or be reimbursed not later than thirty days after the employee’s submission of an expense claim.
See Iowa Code § 91A.3(6)
Iowa Code § 91A.3(6) requires a written justification for refusing all or part of an expense claim within the reimbursement period.
If the employer refuses to pay all or part of each claim, the employer shall submit to the employee a written justification of such refusal within the same time period in which expense claims are paid under this subsection.
See Iowa Code § 91A.3(6)
Which business expenses must an Iowa employer reimburse?
Iowa employers must pay expenses that they authorized and that an employee incurred. Section 91A.3(6) does not list particular types of business expense; its stated conditions are employer authorization and employee expenditure. An expense the employer did not authorize falls outside the duty stated in this subsection.
Sources for this answer
Iowa Code § 91A.3(6) covers expenses authorized by the employer and incurred by the employee.
6. Expenses by the employee which are authorized by the employer and incurred by the employee shall either be reimbursed in advance of expenditure or be reimbursed not later than thirty days after the employee’s submission of an expense claim.
See Iowa Code § 91A.3(6)
Must an Iowa employer reimburse remote-work costs such as home internet or a personal phone?
Iowa employers must pay a remote-work cost, such as home internet or a personal phone, when they authorize the expense and the employee incurs it. Section 91A.3(6) does not mention remote work or name those costs. Its authorization condition therefore determines whether a particular remote-work cost falls within the stated reimbursement duty.
Sources for this answer
Iowa Code § 91A.3(6) requires payment of expenses authorized by the employer and incurred by the employee without naming remote-work costs.
6. Expenses by the employee which are authorized by the employer and incurred by the employee shall either be reimbursed in advance of expenditure or be reimbursed not later than thirty days after the employee’s submission of an expense claim.
See Iowa Code § 91A.3(6)
Can an offer letter or expense policy in Iowa make the employee bear business expenses?
Iowa Code § 91A.3(6) requires payment of authorized, incurred expenses and does not address waiver by offer letter, policy, or agreement. The text makes the employer's authorization relevant to which expenses must be paid, but it does not say that an agreement can erase the duty after an expense has been authorized and incurred.
Sources for this answer
Iowa Code § 91A.3(6) requires payment of authorized, incurred expenses and does not state a waiver rule.
6. Expenses by the employee which are authorized by the employer and incurred by the employee shall either be reimbursed in advance of expenditure or be reimbursed not later than thirty days after the employee’s submission of an expense claim.
See Iowa Code § 91A.3(6)
What happens in Iowa if an employer does not reimburse expenses?
Iowa employers must pay authorized expenses in advance or within 30 days after an employee submits a claim. A refusal requires a written justification within that period. An intentional failure to reimburse expenses under section 91A.3 makes the employer liable for the expenses, liquidated damages, court costs, and usual and necessary attorney fees incurred in recovery. In other instances, liability covers the unpaid expenses, court costs, and usual and necessary attorney fees. Section 91A.2(6) defines liquidated damages using five percent of unreimbursed authorized expenses for each counted day, with stated exclusions and a cap.
Sources for this answer
Iowa Code § 91A.3(6) requires payment of authorized, incurred expenses in advance or within thirty days after submission of an expense claim.
6. Expenses by the employee which are authorized by the employer and incurred by the employee shall either be reimbursed in advance of expenditure or be reimbursed not later than thirty days after the employee’s submission of an expense claim.
See Iowa Code § 91A.3(6)
Iowa Code § 91A.3(6) requires written justification for refusal of an expense claim within the claim payment period.
If the employer refuses to pay all or part of each claim, the employer shall submit to the employee a written justification of such refusal within the same time period in which expense claims are paid under this subsection.
See Iowa Code § 91A.3(6)
Iowa Code § 91A.8 makes an employer that intentionally fails to reimburse expenses under section 91A.3 liable for those expenses, liquidated damages, court costs, and usual and necessary attorney fees incurred in recovery.
When it has been shown that an employer has intentionally failed to pay an employee wages or reimburse expenses pursuant to section 91A.3, whether as the result of a wage dispute or otherwise, the employer shall be liable to the employee for any wages or expenses that are so intentionally failed to be paid or reimbursed, plus liquidated damages, court costs and any attorney’s fees incurred in recovering the unpaid wages and determined to have been usual and necessary.
See Iowa Code § 91A.8
Iowa Code § 91A.8 makes an employer liable in other instances for unpaid expenses, court costs, and usual and necessary attorney fees incurred in recovery.
In other instances the employer shall be liable only for unpaid wages or expenses, court costs and usual and necessary attorney’s fees incurred in recovering the unpaid wages or expenses.
See Iowa Code § 91A.8
Iowa Code § 91A.2(6) defines liquidated damages using five percent of unreimbursed authorized expenses multiplied by counted days, subject to stated exclusions and a cap.
6. "Liquidated damages" means the sum of five percent multiplied by the amount of any wages that were not paid or of any authorized expenses that were not reimbursed on a regular payday or on another day pursuant to section 91A.3 multiplied by the total number of days, excluding Sundays, legal holidays, and the first seven days after the regular payday on which wages were not paid or expenses were not reimbursed. However, such sum shall not exceed the amount of the unpaid wages and shall not accumulate when an employer is subject to a petition filed in bankruptcy.
See Iowa Code § 91A.2(6)
How does federal minimum-wage law limit unreimbursed expenses in Iowa?
Under 29 C.F.R. § 531.35, an employer that requires an employee to supply tools of the trade for the job violates the Fair Labor Standards Act in any workweek in which the employee's cost cuts into the minimum or overtime wages due. The regulation rests on the rule that wages count as paid only when they are paid free and clear, with no kick-back to the employer. On a touch screen, a tap shows all 2 sources in this group.
The federal rule is a floor, not a general duty to reimburse. It is breached only when an employer-required cost pushes the week's pay below the minimum or overtime wages due.
Sources for this answer
29 C.F.R. § 531.35 states that when an employer requires an employee to provide tools of the trade for the employer's work, the Fair Labor Standards Act is violated in any workweek in which the employee's cost of those tools cuts into the minimum or overtime wages required under the Act.
For example, if it is a requirement of the employer that the employee must provide tools of the trade which will be used in or are specifically required for the performance of the employer's particular work, there would be a violation of the Act in any workweek when the cost of such tools purchased by the employee cuts into the minimum or overtime wages required to be paid him under the Act.
See 29 C.F.R. § 531.35
29 C.F.R. § 531.35 states that wages are not considered paid unless they are paid finally and unconditionally, or free and clear.
Whether in cash or in facilities, “wages” cannot be considered to have been paid by the employer and received by the employee unless they are paid finally and unconditionally or “free and clear.”
See 29 C.F.R. § 531.35
29 C.F.R. § 531.35 states that the Fair Labor Standards Act's wage requirements are not met when an employee kicks back all or part of the wage to the employer or to another person for the employer's benefit.
The wage requirements of the Act will not be met where the employee “kicks-back” directly or indirectly to the employer or to another person for the employer's benefit the whole or part of the wage delivered to the employee.
See 29 C.F.R. § 531.35