A California Appellate Court Has Ruled That Restaurant Workers Are Not Entitled to Reimbursement for

The California Court of Appeals, Third District, has held that California Labor Code § 2802 does not require an employer to reimburse its employees for the cost of slip-resistant shoes as necessary expenditures incurred by the employees in direct consequence of the discharge of their duties. (Townley v. BJ’s Restaurants, publication ordered July 8, 2019, 2019 S.O.S. 3245.) In short, the appellate court concluded that BJ’s (the employer) is not required, as a matter of law, to reimburse its employees for the cost of the slip resistant shoes at issue in this case under section 2802, since the cost of the shoes does not qualify as a “necessary expenditure” within the meaning of the statute. The court of appeal reasoned that an employer is not required to reimburse employees for the cost of non-specialty shoes that offer some slip-resistant characteristics, but are otherwise ordinary clothing in nature.