My Fiancee left her former company for a better position with a local company around August. The company she left is based in MN and they do not seem very familiar with CA labor laws as the final paychecks were also late.

Problem is that she overpaid her credit card (Amex) and cannot get Amex to refund it bacuase it is linked to her former employer who refuses to clear it. It is over 3,000 and was overpaid because it is in her name and she did not want the bad credit associated with delayed payments.

Now it is months delayed and has tied up a significant portion of her savings and I feel the company should owe her compensation as reimbursements for out of pocket expenses which are properly submitted are due on the last day of work.

What can we do, can anyone please help?

Thank you so much

You sue.

This is a civil issue. I would start with small claims court.

However, I have had a lot of luck with just paying a lawyer for an hour of his/her time. Get him/her to write the former company a letter demanding payment or a suit will be filed.

Works like a charm 9 times out of 10.

So if an employer witholds reimbursement we would have to sue to get the money back? She was required to often travel and had used the card extensively for it.

Is this not covered under employee compensation?

Assuming we are talking about an employee working in CA, then CA is one of the only states that considers expense reimbursement to be a labor law issue. You can file a wage claim with CA-DLSE.

Almost all other states then CA consider expense reimbursement to be a matter of contract law (get a lawyer, and go to court), and not labor law.

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CA Labor Code

2802. (a) An employer shall indemnify his or her employee for all necessary expenditures or losses incurred by the employee in direct consequence of the discharge of his or her duties, or of his or her obedience to the directions of the employer, even though unlawful, unless the employee, at the time of obeying the directions, believed them to be unlawful.
(b) All awards made by a court or by the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement for reimbursement of necessary expenditures under this section shall carry interest at the same rate as judgments in civil actions. Interest shall accrue from the date on which the employee incurred the necessary expenditure or loss.
(c) For purposes of this section, the term "necessary expenditures or losses" shall include all reasonable costs, including, but not limited to, attorney's fees incurred by the employee enforcing the rights granted by this section.