A former sales rep for Stryker (NYSE:SYK) won class action status in a lawsuit he filed last year alleging that the medical device company failed to reimburse its sales staff for business-related expenses and lacked a reimbursement policy.

Tanner Trosper, the sales rep, sued Stryker and Howmedica in February 2013, alleging failure to reimburse employees for business-related expenses and failing to have a reimbursement policy in place, as required by California law, according to court documents.

Stryker asked Judge Lucy Koh of the U.S. District Court for Northern California to dismiss the putative class action, arguing that " Trosper has failed to produce evidence demonstrating the existence of an employment relationship between Trosper and Stryker," according to the documents. But Koh denied that motion in April, ruling that "Trosper’s evidence presents a genuine issue of material fact regarding the existence of an employment relationship between Trosper and Stryker," according to the documents.

Trosper then asked Koh to certify the lawsuit as a class action affecting Stryker sales reps who worked in California during the class period.

Koh agreed, certifying the class as "All individuals who: (1) were employed by defendant in California from February 1, 2009, until October 1, 2012; (2) held the title of ‘Sales Representative’; and (3) worked in the CMF, Reconstruction, Trauma and Extremities, and Joint Preservation Divisions," according to the documents.