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The foregoing purposes of NCMI are within the scope of the
objectives that any defendant in a lawsuit expects to achieve by
a settlement. However, those purposes are too far removed from
the universe of purposes of employers and employees that Congress
intended to serve by enacting section 62(a)(2)(A) and (c) and
their statutory predecessors, as implemented by the regulations
currently in effect.
The purposes served by the statutory and regulatory
requirements for reimbursement arrangements have to do with the
operation and administration of the employment relationship
between employers and employees. When an employee “accounts” to
an employer, the employer’s agreement to reimburse the employee
confirms that the expense was incurred on the employer’s behalf,
and that the employee was performing the duties required by the
employer in incurring the liability and in paying for the item.
The reimbursement arrangements contemplated by section
62(a)(2)(A) and the accountable plan regulations are far removed
from the case at hand and all other payments, by reimbursement or
otherwise, of the attorney’s fees incurred by former employees in
prosecuting wrongful termination claims against their former
employers.
Conclusion
We acknowledge, as have courts in prior cases, that the
result we reach today “‘smacks of injustice’” because petitioners
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