Travel Regulations Federal Employees
Can you help me answer this Federal Travel Regulation question on per diem rates?
Can a federal employee on official travel use a hotel rate that includes breakfast if it (1) is below the area per diem but (2) is $10 more than a non-per diem rate offered by the same hotel?
Or does the employee need to take the lowest available government rate?
Thanks for your knowledge on the subject.
In my description, I meant "(2) is $10 more than a non-BREAKFAST rate offered by the same hotel?" Sorry that what I wrote made no sense.
Or does the employee need to take the lowest available government rate?
Thanks for your knowledge on the subject.
As with many questions on here, the only valid answer would have to come from the travel section of your department.
That said, I would hope the answer would be whichever option costs less while meeting the intent of the travel directives. My experience is with Canadian federal travel rules, so I can't give you a definitive answer, but if an employee came to me and said (for example), can they charge $95 for a room with breakfast, or $85 for a room plus $12 for breakfast (assuming the breakfast allowance was $11 or more) I'd agree to the room with breakfast. I wouldn't allow a claim for $95 plus a separate claim for breakfast (since it was, in essence, supplied with the room). On the other hand, if the breakfast allowance was less than $10, I'd allow the $85 rate and not the $95 rate.
Keep in mind that no set of rules can cover all situations, so my belief (although not necessarily the travel section's) is some room is required for exceptions and I suggest there may be room to argue your point.
As an example, I set a precedent with one travel claim. I rode my tandem bike with a colleague to a management retreat at a hotel 60 miles form the office. I took vacation for the afternoon to allow time to do the ride (making any issue re extra cost of salary required for the longer travel time moot) . Since supper wasn't until 7pm, and we were hungry after the ride, we paid for food to tide us over until supper. The rules said if we had driven a vehicle we could claim a per mile rate, cars (full rate) and motorcycles (half rate) were mentioned but no allowance was made for non-motorized vehicles. But, on the basis that food was equivalent to gasoline, I put in a travel claim at the motorcycle rate. I got a call from the travel section supervisor to discuss my claim. The upshot was that my claim was allowed at 1/3 the car rate.
I wanted to make another claim for canoeing to similar meeting at a conference center 70 miles down-river, but never did since my only opportunity was a mid-winter meeting.
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