Cell Phone & Data Plan Business Expenses
Cell Phone & Data Plan Business Expenses
The purpose of this Information Alert is to inform colleges and units of the upcoming changes with the University’s Mobile Communications Policy. The Mobile Communications policy for the University of Illinois System was first established back in 2011 and later modified in 2012. Originally, the policy was created to assist employees in purchasing cell phones and/or data plans if their positions required them to be accessible to the University after normal business hours or when working from outside their office.
As technologies have evolved, and the growing personal use of cell phones have become almost universal, the boundaries between personal and professional use of mobile technologies have become difficult to delineate. Given these changes, a small working group was recently tasked to examine the current policy and practices related to mobile communications. Given the evolution in mobile technologies and their usage, the working group recommended that the current policy be further amended.
A new policy, Cell Phone & Data Plan Business Expenses Policy, was approved on June 11, 2018 to replace the previous Mobile Communications Policy. A major provision of the new policy requires that all current cell phone stipends end on 8/15/2018. For effected employees represented by a union, this policy will be applied through the collective bargaining process.
As specified under the new policy, the University will not provide salary stipends, expense reimbursements, or payments on behalf for faculty and staff (via Purchase card or direct bill to the University) to cover costs associated with use of personal cell phones, data plans, or other equipment with cellular connectivity used in the course of performing University-related business. Some mobile communication and or data/Internet business expenses incurred while in travel status may be paid through the travel reimbursement process.
While there are special situations and options documented in the new policy to accommodate special business needs using the procurement and travel reimbursement process, colleges and units are not allowed to establish policies that differ from the system-wide policy.
Even though the practice of issuing cell stipends will end, please note that several mobile phone carriers provide discounts to University of Illinois employees. The list of current carriers and their discounts can be found on the System Human Resource Services website at https://www.hr.uillinois.edu/benefits/worklife/discounts.
UIC Human Resources (UICHR) will provide further information in the coming weeks on notifying effected employees and on the process of ending the current cell stipends, which will be handled centrally by UICHR. Questions can be directed to the HR Service Center at (312) 413-3490.