Reimbursement for
Personal Use of City Owned Cell Phone – Voice and Text Messages Only.
RESPONSIBLE CITY AGENCY: Information Management Services
KEYWORDS: cell phone, smart phone, iphone, droid, blackberry, cellular telephone, aircard, wireless, mobile phone
1. General
1.1. The City recognizes the value of cell phones in conducting City business and encourages the appropriate deployment of cell phones to employees where this can provide greater efficiency and effectiveness, a higher level of customer service, or where employees are required to be available on a 7/24 basis.
2. Privacy
2.1. Employees are not entitled to any expectation of privacy associated with the use of any of a City owned cell phone. Except for certain situations, the City does not record telephone conversations. These exceptions are noted in City Policy 4.01.02 “Monitoring of Radio and Telephone Conversations”.
2.2. All electronic communications related to City business sent or received are subject to the City’s Electronic Communications Policy and Procedure.
3. Standards of Conduct
3.1. Employees are reminded of the requirement to conduct themselves appropriately in all conversations related to City business as outlined in the Employee Standards of Conduct policy.
3.2. Employees are required to be respectful of individuals and groups in their communications and conversations related to City business.
3.3. Use of profane, vulgar, inflammatory, disrespectful, or derogatory language is unprofessional and is not appropriate in any conversation related to City business.
4. Assignment of Cell Phones
4.1. Department directors, division directors, and employees with specific responsibilities in times of emergency are to be issued a City owned cell phone. Department and Division Directors may, at their discretion and at the expense of their department, provide a City owned cell phone to any employee.
4.2. Department and division directors may, at their discretion, require employees issued City owned cell phone to be available and answer those phones at all times.
4.3. Department directors are to appoint a person in their department to be responsible for administering cell phones for their department. This person will be responsible for the following:
4.3.1. Issuance of and tracking of City owned cell phones assigned to employees. With the department or division director’s approval, employees may be issued a City owned cell phone. This includes upgrades and disposal of existing phones.
4.3.2. Procurement and set up of new phones. Departments are to select a set of authorized phones based on the department’s specific business needs. Employees requesting a phone not on the authorized list are to purchase the phone directly and receive a cell phone allowance as provided for in section 6.2 of this procedure.
4.3.3. Processing invoices from service providers for cell phone and data services.
4.3.4. Conducting spot audits of cell phone bills to ensure compliance with the Cell Phone Policy and Procedures and that personal usage is in line with department policy.
4.4. Department directors are responsible for determining those employees within their departments where the City would benefit from the assignment of a City owned cell phone. Suggested criteria to be considered are:
•The employee is deployed to the field for the majority of their work day and there is a need for supervisors and managers to be able to contact these employees regularly.
•The employee fills a key role in the department or as part of the employee’s regular duties, needs to be reachable during off-duty hours to maintain a level of service needed by the department.
•The employee has specific responsibilities and needs to be reachable in the event of an emergency.
However, Department and Division Directors may, at their discretion and at their department’s expense, assign a City owned cell phone to any employee.
5. Procurement, Upgrade, and Disposal of Cell Phones
5.1. Service Agreements. Departments are to work directly with the vendor of their choice when determining a cell phone carrier. The following vendors are recognized and have state contracts in place.
•ATT
•Sprint/NexTel
•T-Mobile
•Verizon
5.2. Pooled Minutes. The major cell phone service providers offer a program that will allow the departments to purchase blocks of cell phone minutes and share them among their cell phone users. Departments are to work directly with their chosen service provider to set up a pooled minutes plan for their cell phone service.
5.3. Data Plans. The ability to send and receive email, text messages, and access the internet on a cell phone is recognized as a way for the City to be more efficient in its operations. Departments are to closely monitor each employees data plan to ensure the employee has the appropriate data plan for their needs.
5.4. Standardization. Each department will have differing requirements from their cell phones. Departments are encouraged to standardize on 3 or 4 phone models that fit their business requirements. This will help minimize support and administration costs.
5.5. Cell phones are to be purchased in accordance with procurement policies, procedures, and rules.
5.6. Upgrades to existing cell phones may be done in accordance with the terms of the service provider’s contract or if the phone is non-functional.
5.7. Disposal of Cell Phones. Cell phones contain materials hazardous to the environment and must be properly disposed of. Additionally, cell phone may contain sensitive or private information such as contact information containing names, addresses, and phone numbers of employees and others.
5.7.1. Trade-in. Departments may opt to trade used phones in for fair market value. Prior to trade-in, the phones must be cleared of all data buy IMS or the vendor must provide certification that all phones are properly erased before resale.
5.7.2. Destroyed. Phones that are no longer functional are to be returned to IMS to ensure that the devices are properly erased and disposed of in an environmentally friendly way.
5.7.3. Auction. All phones to be sent to auction are to be sent to IMS to ensure that the devices are properly erased prior to disposition at public auction.
5.8. Aircards. In order to maintain the security of the network, certain software must be installed and specific system configuration needs to be performed on a computer using an aircard. It is therefore required that all aircards be administered through IMS or Airport’s IT Division. This includes the procurement, activation, installation, and support of the hardware and software required.
6. Reimbursements
6.1. IRS Rules and regulations require a City owned cell phone assigned to an employee be treated as a taxable fringe benefit in some situations.
6.2. City Owned Cell Phone Used for City Business. The City purchased the cell phone and pays associated monthly service fee. The City owned cell phone is assigned to an employee and the employee is required, as part of their responsibilities, to be accessible at all times. Employees are allowed de minimus use of City owned cell phones under this scenario.
6.2.1. Except for de minimus use, employees must demonstrate that the City owned cell phone is used for City business only.
6.2.2. Departments are to develop a standard for de minimus use for their work groups. There is no charge and the use of a City owned cell phone is not taxable to the employees unless their usage exceeds the de minimus use standard.
6.2.3. In the event the employee’s usage exceed the de minimus use standard for the department, the employee will be required to reimburse the City through a payroll deduction of approximately 25% of the monthly cost of service.
6.2.3.1. For city owned cell phones with voice service only, employees will have a payroll deduction of $3.70 per pay period.
6.2.3.2. For city owned cell phones with voice and data plans, employees will have a payroll deduction of $6.00 per pay period.
6.3. Employee Owned Cell Phone Used for City Business. The employee purchases the cell phone and pays the associated monthly charges. The employee and the City agree that the cell phone will be used for City business.
6.3.1. The department or division director may, at their discretion, approve the use of a cell phone owned by the employee for City business and reimburse the employee for a reasonable amount of the associated costs.
6.3.2. Department and division directors may, at their discretion, reimburse employees for the costs associated with the use of a personal cell phone for City business. Reimbursement will be done through a taxable payroll allowance.
6.3.2.1. For personal cell phones used for City business with voice service only, employees may be reimbursed up to $21.50 per pay period.
6.3.2.2. For personal cell phones used for City business with voice and data service, employees may be reimbursed up to $38.50 per pay period.
7. CURRENT REFERENCES: None.
8. INITIAL EFFECTIVE DATE: December 7, 2004
9. EFFECTIVE DATE OF CURRENT REVISION (date signed by the Mayor): February 1, 2011
AUTHORIZATION FOR PAYROLL DEDUCTION
PERSONAL CELL PHONE USE
Employee Name _________________________________________________
Employee ID: _________________ Department: ______________________
In accordance with the City’s Cell Phone Policies and Procedures, the undersigned authorizes a payroll deduction for the following:
Reimbursement for
Personal Use of City Owned Cell Phone – Voice and Text Messages Only.
$3.70 per pay period.
Reimbursement for
Personal Use of City Owned Cell Phone – Voice, Text Messages, and Email or
Internet Access.
$6.00 per pay period.
Effective Date ____________________
Employee Signature ________________________________ Date _________
Attachment 1
REQUEST FOR CELL PHONE ALLOWANCE
PERSONAL CELL PHONE USE
Employee Name _________________________________________________
Employee ID: _________________ Department: ______________________
In accordance with the City’s Cell Phone Policies and Procedures, the undersigned requests a payroll allowance for the following:
Allowance for City
Use of Personal Cell Phone – Voice and Text Messages Only.
$21.50 per pay period.
Allowance
for City Use of Personal Cell Phone – Voice, Text Messages, and Email or
Internet Access.
$38.50 per pay period.
Effective Date ____________________
Employee Signature ________________________________ Date _________
Department Director ________________________________ Date _________
Attachment 2