Legal Question in Business Law in Missouri

Employer used my son's cell phone and won't pay

My son was an employee of a landscaper for summer. Behinning in June the employer asked my son to use his cell phone to get a hold of workers at job sites. He verbally agreed to pay the bill. My son informed him that he was on a family plan with me. The employer denies that, then says if he did, he didn't know what a family plan was. The employer called my son's phone several times a day at work for 2.5 months. He put us over minutes, because we share minutes, which put myself and my other son over minutes. Now he only wants to pay $30 a month because he says he isn't responsible because he didn't know. In my eyes, he agreed to pay, he used the phone for business reasons and the business should pay. Not me or my son. We had no idea how many minutes he had used until the bill arrived. Who is responsible? He also has changed his version a couple of times. The phone is in my name and he never got my permission.


Asked on 8/28/03, 10:00 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Anthony DeWitt Bartimus, Frickleton Robertson & Gorny, PC

Re: Employer used my son's cell phone and won't pay

If he agreed to pay, he agreed to pay. The question is how much he should be required to pay.

Lets suppose you get 100 minutes. Lets suppose further that every minute over that costs you $0.50. And now, lets suppose that during these months you were billed for 20 extra minutes. His liability would be limited to $10. This is true even if you normally never go over your limit and never have to pay extra minutes, because technically you agreed to pay for the first 100 minutes, and if the boss hadn't put you over the minutes, you'd still have to have paid for the first 100. Right? So the only obligation is for the extra minutes used. In other words, you can't transfer some portion of the base cost to him simply because your son used his cell phone for business purposes, and especially in a situation where the boss didn't have (or claims not to have) notice of the type of plan you are on.

I would simply copy the bill, show the number of extra minutes that he caused you to have to pay for, and send him the bill for that amount. Then I would tell your son never to use his cell phone for work unless he is compensated for doing so. If the boss wants to use his cell phone for his business purposes, then you need to enter into an agreement with the boss on how to handle this situation in the future.

Keep in mind if the boss completely refuses to pay, you can take him to Small Claims Court and get the matter handled there.

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Answered on 8/29/03, 8:43 am


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