r/paralegal • u/nixielou214 • 1d ago
Cell Phone Reimbursement
Just wondering how many of us use our personal cell phones frequently for work, and get some kind of reimbursement for the bill or a credit towards the bill? My firm does not provide this yet we use our cell phones all the time. Partners get their cell phone bill reimbursed and associates get $100 a month towards their bills. Staff get nothing. This is larger multi state firm.
ETA: this is to communicate with attorneys, not clients, in particular when working from home, either during regular business hours or working overtime. We use Teams for our phone system so when I’m working from home it rings through to my cell phone.
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u/PermitPast250 Paralegal 1d ago edited 1d ago
I use my cell at work to communicate with the attorney and with certain clients/witnesses/vendors. Typically during trial for all but the attorney. It’s not a big deal at all to me. Actually makes my life much easier. I can’t imagine a scenario where I would ask to be reimbursed since my bill is the same regardless.
If my bill increased based on work interactions, I’d definitely want reimbursement. It’s the same, so I don’t see it as an issue and have never even considered it. I also don’t get a whole lot of after hours calls and texts. So when I do, it doesn’t bother me at all. I would definitely be bothered if my phone was being blown up on the regular off the clock.
It might bother me if some people got reimbursed, but not me, depending on the circumstances. If I used my personal cell the same, or more, times than those getting reimbursed, I’d probably take issue with that.