Does your employer have to pay for your home internet? In most cases, no — not under federal law. The Fair Labor Standards Act only requires reimbursement when the unreimbursed cost drops your effective pay below the $7.25 federal minimum wage, which almost never happens to salaried remote workers. The real answer depends on three things: what state you work in, whether your remote work is required or optional, and what your employer’s own policies say.
What Federal Law Actually Requires
The FLSA has no standalone reimbursement mandate. Federal regulations treat internet service the way they treat uniforms and tools: if the employer requires it and paying for it yourself drops your earnings below $7.25 an hour in any workweek, the employer must cover enough of the cost to keep you at that floor.1U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 16 – Deductions From Wages for Uniforms and Other Facilities Under the FLSA The same rule applies to overtime pay.2eCFR. 29 CFR 531.35 – Free and Clear Payment; Kickbacks
The math makes the limit obvious. At $7.25 an hour, a 40-hour week produces $290 in gross pay. If you earn $25 or $30 an hour, a $75 monthly internet bill will never pull you under the federal floor. That is why federal law offers almost no practical protection to most remote workers, and why the question really turns on state law and your employer’s policies.
States That Require Reimbursement
A small group of states requires employers to reimburse all necessary business expenses regardless of what you earn. Several others have narrower rules.
The Broad-Law States
California, Illinois, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota each have statutes requiring employers to reimburse employees for necessary expenditures made in performing their job duties. If you need internet access to do your work and your employer requires you to provide it, they owe you a reasonable reimbursement. Your salary level does not matter.
California is the most heavily litigated. A California appellate court held in Cochran v. Schwan’s Home Service that employers must reimburse a reasonable percentage of an employee’s personal phone or internet bill when the service is used for work, even if the employee has an unlimited plan and pays no extra out-of-pocket cost.
Illinois requires reimbursement of necessary expenditures within the scope of employment that primarily benefit the employer, but only when the employer authorized or required the expense. Employees generally must submit claims with documentation within 30 days, though company policy can extend that. Montana’s statute covers what an employee “necessarily expends or loses in direct consequence” of performing their duties.
Narrower Requirements Elsewhere
The District of Columbia requires reimbursement of necessary business expenses. Iowa requires reimbursement of expenses the employer has authorized, with payment due within 30 days of the employee’s claim. New Hampshire requires reimbursement of necessary job-related expenses within 30 days of proof of payment. Massachusetts ties reimbursement to its minimum-wage threshold, similar to the federal approach, so most salaried remote workers there are not protected by statute.
New York has no general reimbursement mandate, but employers must honor their own written reimbursement policies and employment agreements. Breaking that promise creates a wage-and-hour violation on its own.
If your state is not on either list above, no state statute forces the issue. Your claim, if you have one, rests on your employer’s policy or your contract.
Required Remote Work vs. a Choice You Made
This is where many reimbursement claims collapse. No broad reimbursement law covers expenses from purely voluntary remote work. If your employer maintains a fully equipped office and you work from home for your own convenience, internet at your house is not a “necessary” expense of employment. You had a free alternative.
The obligation kicks in when the employer requires remote work, closes or eliminates your office space, or when the nature of the job leaves working from home as the only realistic option. Hybrid arrangements are grayer. If your employer schedules you to be remote on specific days, that looks a lot more like a requirement than a choice, even if the office is technically available.p>
Remote work granted as an accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act is a separate track. When home-based work enables you to perform essential job functions, the employer may also need to cover costs you incur from working at home.3U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Enforcement Guidance on Reasonable Accommodation and Undue Hardship Under the ADA
Your Employer’s Own Policy or Contract
Even in states without a reimbursement statute, your employer can create the obligation itself. Many companies rolled out remote-work stipends or reimbursement policies during the pandemic and left them in place. If your employee handbook, offer letter, or remote-work agreement says the company will reimburse internet costs, that promise is generally enforceable.
Read your documents carefully. Look for the reimbursement amount or formula, which expenses qualify, any submission deadline, and the documentation you have to provide. Some policies cap payment at a flat dollar figure. Others ask for a copy of your bill and a business-use percentage. A company that publishes a policy is expected to apply it consistently.
Union members should also check any collective bargaining agreement, which can include telework and reimbursement provisions the employer must follow.
How Reimbursement Amounts Get Calculated
Two methods dominate. The first is a flat monthly stipend, often somewhere between $50 and $100, meant to approximate the work-related portion of a typical bill. Stipends are simple, but they carry a tax cost discussed below.
The second is pro-rated reimbursement based on your actual bill. You estimate what share of your internet use is work-related, and the employer pays that percentage. If work and personal use are roughly equal, you might claim 50 percent. This method requires more record-keeping but tracks your real costs.
When your job forces you onto a faster or more expensive plan than you would otherwise buy, the difference between what you needed personally and what the job demands is almost entirely a business expense and should be reflected in the reimbursement.
Tax Treatment of What You Get Paid Back
How your employer structures the payment decides whether you owe tax on it. The IRS draws a hard line between accountable and nonaccountable plans.
Under an accountable plan, reimbursements are excluded from your gross income, do not appear on your W-2 as wages, and are not subject to income tax withholding or payroll taxes.4Internal Revenue Service. Rev. Rul. 2003-106 Three requirements have to be met: the expense must have a business connection, you must substantiate it to your employer within a reasonable time, and you must return any reimbursement that exceeds your actual documented costs.5Internal Revenue Service. Publication 15 (2026), Employers Tax Guide The IRS treats substantiation within 60 days and return of any excess within 120 days as reasonable.
Miss any of those requirements and the whole payment becomes a nonaccountable plan. It gets added to your taxable wages, appears on your W-2, and is subject to income tax withholding and employment taxes.4Internal Revenue Service. Rev. Rul. 2003-106 A flat stipend paid with no documentation requirement almost always lands here. If your company hands you $75 a month for internet with no receipts or proof of business use, expect that $75 to be taxed as ordinary income.
Can You Deduct Unreimbursed Internet Costs Yourself?
For most employees, no. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act suspended the deduction for unreimbursed employee business expenses starting in 2018, and later legislation made the elimination permanent.6Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 2106 The narrow exceptions on Form 2106 are Armed Forces reservists, qualified performing artists, fee-basis state or local government officials, and employees with impairment-related work expenses. Everyone else has no federal deduction, which makes employer reimbursement the only tax-efficient path.
How to Ask, and What to Do If They Refuse
Start by checking whether a policy already exists. Look at the handbook, your offer letter, and any remote-work agreement. If a policy is in place, follow its procedures exactly, including deadlines and documentation.
If nothing exists, put your request in writing to your manager or HR. Point to the specific basis for your claim: your state’s reimbursement statute if you have one, or your employer’s remote-work requirements if they effectively force you to have home internet. Attach recent bills and, if asked, include a reasonable business-use percentage. Keep copies. A concrete request tied to a business requirement — “my role requires me online eight hours a day per the remote-work agreement dated March 2024, and my monthly service costs $85” — carries more weight than a general ask.
If your employer refuses in a state that mandates reimbursement, you have options. You can file a confidential complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division at 1-866-487-9243. The WHD investigates, reviews records, and can require back payment of amounts owed.7U.S. Department of Labor. How to File a Complaint Most states with reimbursement statutes also have their own labor agencies, and state-level filings are often faster.
Your employer cannot lawfully punish you for raising the issue. The FLSA prohibits retaliation against any employee who files a complaint, participates in an investigation, or complains internally about wages or expenses, and that protection applies whether or not your specific job is otherwise covered by the FLSA.8U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 77A – Prohibiting Retaliation Under the FLSA If you are fired or your hours are cut after you request reimbursement, you can file a retaliation complaint or bring a private lawsuit seeking reinstatement, lost wages, and liquidated damages.
Successful claims under state reimbursement laws can recover the unreimbursed amounts plus interest from the date the expense was incurred. Some states add penalties for willful violations and award attorney fees to the employee, which can make it possible to pursue a claim without paying out of pocket for legal help.