Arkansas: Employee Expense Reimbursement Requirements
The short answer
Arkansas has no general Title 11 statute requiring an ordinary private employer to reimburse necessary business expenses such as mileage, tools, uniforms, supplies, or remote-work costs. A narrow rule applies to an employer that maintains the workers' compensation drug-free-workplace program: the covered employer must pay every initial and confirmation drug or alcohol test it requires of employees, while an employee or applicant pays for an additional test not required by the employer.
Ask Ezel about your situation
This is the general rule in Arkansas. Ezel applies current Arkansas law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law and coverage | No general Title 11 business-expense mandate. Narrow Ark. Code Ann. §§ 11-14-102 to -107 rule for a workers' compensation-covered employer that maintains and expressly elects the drug-free-workplace program |
|---|---|
| Reimbursable expense standard | No general necessary/reasonable business-expense standard. Narrow rule: covered employer pays all initial and confirmation drug/alcohol tests it requires of employees (§ 11-14-107) |
| Authorization, direction, and primary benefit | No general direction, authorization, ratification, or primary-benefit test. Narrow trigger is a covered employer's requirement that an employee take the test |
| Excluded losses and employee fault | Employee or applicant pays for an additional test not required by the covered employer. No general ordinary-risk, negligence, wear, theft, commuting, precondition, or personal-cost rules |
| Request deadline and documentation | Employer-required employee test cost needs no reimbursement request or receipt procedure. No general expense-submission deadline, itemization, certification, or missing-document substitute |
| Employer policy, preapproval, and caps | Covered employer must give the written testing policy once before testing and wait at least 60 days after general notice before the program takes effect; no test-cost cap or general expense-policy framework stated (§§ 11-14-105, -107) |
| Payment deadline, method, and interest | Covered employer must pay covered employee-testing costs, but Chapter 14 states no reimbursement payment deadline, method, or interest. No general payment rule for other business expenses |
| Enforcement and remedies | No general expense remedy or expense-specific civil remedy stated. Noncompliance defeats the Chapter 14 premium discount; no cause of action arises merely from failure to establish a testing program (§§ 11-14-104, -108) |
Compare this rule across all 50 states + DC →
Requirements one by one
Arkansas has no general necessary-expense mandate
The current Title 11 chapter structure contains no general statute requiring an
ordinary private employer to reimburse necessary business expenses such as
mileage, tools, uniforms, supplies, phone service, or home-office costs. It
therefore supplies no universal necessary-or-reasonable standard, employer-
benefit test, expense-request procedure, policy cap, payment deadline, interest
rule, or general reimbursement remedy.
A right to repayment for those ordinary costs must come from an employer
policy, agreement, or another applicable law. Workers' compensation benefits,
public-employee travel, and wage deductions are separate subjects outside this
survey.
A covered drug-free workplace pays required employee test costs
Ark. Code Ann. § 11-14-103 applies Chapter 14 to a drug-free-workplace
program implemented under Workers' Health and Safety Division rules. The
chapter applies only when an employer covered by Arkansas workers'
compensation law maintains a drug-free workplace under the chapter and says in
the required posting that the policy is being implemented under Chapter 14. The
statute says the chapter has no effect on an employer outside that definition.
For a covered employer, Ark. Code Ann. § 11-14-107 provides:
A covered employer shall pay the cost of all drug and alcohol tests, initial
and confirmation, that the covered employer requires of employees.
An employee or applicant pays for an additional drug or alcohol test not
required by the covered employer. The chapter states no receipt form,
reimbursement request, payment deadline, payment method, interest rule, or cap
for the employer-paid test cost.
The program is voluntary and tied to a premium discount
Under Ark. Code Ann. § 11-14-105, the employer must give employees and
applicants its written testing policy once before testing. At least 60 days must
pass between the general employee notice and the program's effective date. A
rescission likewise takes effect for employees and applicants no earlier than
60 days after the posted notice.
Failure to maintain the program according to Chapter 14 and its rules makes the
employer ineligible for the workers' compensation premium discount. Chapter 14
states no expense-specific damages action for an unpaid test cost, and §
11-14-108 says no cause of action arises merely because an employer did not
establish a testing program.
What trips people up
The testing rule is not a general expense statute. It does not create a
state mileage rate, tool allowance, uniform payment, phone percentage, or home-
office reimbursement right.
The cost sentence distinguishes employees from applicants. Section
11-14-107 expressly assigns the covered employer the cost of tests it requires
of employees. Its next sentence assigns an employee or applicant the cost of an
additional test not required by the employer; the chapter should not be read as
silently broadening the first sentence.
Rehabilitation is separate from testing costs. If the covered employer pays
for an employee's participation, it may select the assistance or rehabilitation
program unless a collective bargaining agreement says otherwise. The chapter
does not require an employer to provide or permit rehabilitation.
Common questions
Does Arkansas require private employers to reimburse business mileage?
Not under a general Title 11 statute. A mileage right may instead depend on a
policy, agreement, or a different law governing a specific setting.
Who pays for a required workplace drug or alcohol test?
A covered employer under Chapter 14 must pay initial and confirmation tests it
requires of employees. An employee or applicant pays for an additional test not
required by the covered employer.
Must an Arkansas employer adopt the Chapter 14 testing program?
No. The definition limits Chapter 14 to an employer that maintains and
expressly elects the program, and § 11-14-108 bars a cause of action based only
on an employer's failure to establish one.
Statutes and sources
- Official Code of Arkansas Annotated, Title 11. Complete labor-title
structure and absence of a general private-employee business-expense scheme.
Official-code publication
(accessed July 17, 2026). - Ark. Code Ann. §§ 11-14-102, 11-14-103, and 11-14-105. Covered-employer
definition, applicability, written policy, 60-day implementation period, and
rescission notice. Official Chapter 14 text
(accessed July 17, 2026). - Ark. Code Ann. § 11-14-107. Employer-paid required employee tests,
employee/applicant-paid additional tests, and the rehabilitation-cost
boundary. Official text
(accessed July 17, 2026). - Ark. Code Ann. §§ 11-14-104 and 11-14-108. Loss of the premium discount
for program noncompliance and no cause of action merely for not establishing
a program. Official Chapter 14 text
(accessed July 17, 2026).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
Get the answer for your situation
You just read how Arkansas handles this in general. Ezel applies current Arkansas law to your facts and answers your specific question, with citations.
Opens in Ezel Pro. Every answer cites the authority it relies on.