Work Order Line Item (WOLI) Delete Permission Inheritance in Field Service

In Salesforce Field Service, the Work Order Line Item (WOLI) object has a master-detail relationship with the Work Order object. Salesforce enforces WOLI edit and delete operations based on the user's permissions on the parent Work Order — not on the WOLI object itself.

Symptoms

• A user can delete WOLIs despite having no delete permission on the WOLI object.
• A user cannot delete WOLIs even though delete permission is set on the WOLI object.
• Removing delete permission on WOLI does not prevent deletions.
• The Delete option appears in Lightning Experience, the Field Service mobile app, and partner communities for users who should not have it.

Cause

WorkOrderLineItem is on the detail side of a master-detail relationship with WorkOrder. In a master-detail relationship, the detail record inherits edit and delete access from the master. This means:

• A user with Edit on Work Order can edit and delete WOLIs.
• A user without Edit on Work Order cannot edit or delete WOLIs — regardless of WOLI object permissions, sharing rules, or field-level security.

This behavior applies in Lightning Experience, the Field Service mobile app, and partner communities.

Known Limitation

There is no declarative way to allow Work Order editing while blocking WOLI deletion. Salesforce does not support independent delete permissions on WOLIs separate from Work Order Edit access. A custom Apex Before Delete trigger on WorkOrderLineItem is the only supported workaround for granular control.