If the employee can get it refunded with an expense report, like any other work expense then in my experience (in California), it’s not illegal. I’ve made plenty of work expenditures with my personal CC that I get reimbursed from the company with an expense report. But *pressuring* employees to do it is plain wrong (and may be illegal).
Coming back here, not sure if anyone still reads this thread a day later...
I am not sure about the legality of it here in Germany, but I'm not really sure I could even prove it.
Pressuring us into buying these items are hard to prove, nobody said we need to do anything. You want to be someone who makes sure the feature can launch on time and works correctly, or you want to complain (rightfully) that using your own cards should not be necessary for testing a feature?
It was, though, implied 1. we need to make sure the product works and shipped on time, 2. you can't do it without using your own cards.
I know people on the team who simply didn't test, but as it was a feature I was mainly responsible for and genuinely interested in, I wanted the launch to be successful.
We also eventually got the money back (most of the money? didn't check them all).
In the end, it was in total about 25 euros, and that's not a sum that I would sue my employer over, especially as I was "happy enough" at the company.
>Here in the state of California, labor laws define that an employer cannot require a team member to take on expenses that are an integral part of the job.
Two comments. (From a non-CA legal jurisdiction context.)
You can always ask (but not pressure or require). Make sure you make it clear there's no downside to them refusing.
Another option I've used is to hand cash to co workers and ask them to spend it on their credit card for testing. I've rarely had anyone refuse that. (A few very junior staff members who were maybe right on the credit limit on their cards I suspect.)
