Legal Question in Employment Law in California

Can a company change from a car allowance program (payroll) to a mileage program (expense) when in your contract one of the negotiation items was a car allowance fee - one used to pay for ins, main, lease payment etc that is not associated with a mileage plan? I live in CA am in Sales (Sr Level) and the company I work states they are changing policy. I do not see that payroll and expense are the same as you don't negotiate expense in a hire but you do negotiate payroll benefits like car allowance as a benefit to accept their offer to hire? Just checking if this is even legal to do so.


Asked on 7/01/14, 8:27 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Depends on the terms of your contract. Absent a specific agreement that will be in effect for a specified amount of time, an employment contract is "at will." That gives you the right to quit and them the right to end your employment, with or without cause, at any time. What that necessarily carries with it is a right to change the terms of your employment at any time. If they can let you go if you don't accept it, or for no reason at all, that means the changes are "take it or leave it." The effect of that is unless you have specific terms stating that something will not be changed, all terms of an employment agreement are only enforceable retroactively. They can't change the deal after you have worked under the contract for time already past, but they can change it going forward at any time.

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Answered on 7/01/14, 8:45 am


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