General Travel Rules
Mileage
The board approved ESD rate shall be paid when the employee uses his
or her private vehicle for official ESD business travel. The lesser
of the mileage from the employee’s official duty station or official
residence will be reimbursed.
The superintendent or designee will assign a duty stations for staff.
Meals
Meals will be reimbursed based on the OFM per diem rate for the location
where the meal occurred. Rates within Washington State are available
at http://www.ofm.wa.gov/resources/travel/bwmap.pdf. Receipts for meals are not required.
Alcoholic beverages are not reimbursable. Meals and lodging for spouses
are not allowed.
The amount of the meal reimbursement is determined by where you are
during the mealtime, not the destination of the trip. The trip information
section of the travel expense voucher is used to document your location
and the time you were in travel status.
Employees are eligible to be reimbursed for meals when in travel status
at least three (3) hours beyond his/her normal work hours. The three
hours may consist of hours occurring before, after, or some combination
of both. Normal working hours are defined as eight (8) hours plus lunch.
However, to qualify for meal reimbursement, an employee must be in
travel status through the meal period. Meal periods are as follows:
Breakfast Prior to 8:00 a.m.
Lunch From 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m
Dinner After 6:00 p.m.
Taxable Meals
When the three-hour rule (see above) has been met, but there has not
been an overnight stay the meal reimbursement will be subject to payroll
taxes. Reimbursement will be included in your payroll check with appropriate
withholding taxes deducted.
Lodging
Actual lodging will be reimbursed up to the maximum allowed by the
State of Washington Office of Financial Management (OFM). Allowable
exceptions are:
- When costs in the area have escalated due to a disaster or special
event.
- When lodging accommodations are not available at or below the
maximum lodging amount and the savings achieved from staying at more
distant but less expensive lodging would be offset by the additional
travel and other costs in staying there.
- The traveler is staying at the site of the conference or meeting
and is expected to have business interaction with other participants
in addition to scheduled events and it is anticipated that maximum
benefit will be achieved by having the traveler stay at the conference
or meeting site.
- The health or safety of the traveler is at risk.
- To comply with Americans with Disabilities Act.
- The traveler is using the room to provide for a meeting place
instead of renting a meeting room separately
An original receipt is required to document actual expense. Please
see travel map for standard lodging rates and maximum lodging amounts.
The map is available at http://www.ofm.wa.gov/resources/travel/bwmap.pdf.
Lodging will be reimbursed when the employee is required to stay overnight
and the place of lodging is more than fifty miles from the closer of
the employee’s official duty station or official residence
Travel Resources:
Mileage
Chart
Expense
Claim Form Instructions
Out
of Region Form Instructions
State
PerDiem Map
National
PerDiem Map
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