Oops, Wrong Way

But each year, a couple hundred workers who are denied reimbursements are persistent enough to appeal. Among them are travelers who were just following orders-wrong orders. Good intentions plus bad advice adds up to "Sorry, the law won't allow us to reimburse you for that."

Illegal Turn

Other travelers try to work the system-and usually fail. A Justice Department worker in Laredo, Texas, for example, asked for reimbursement for lodging costs at the maximum per diem rate while on a long-term assignment in South Carolina in 1998. Javier Hernandez stayed with his brother for the 136 days. But the Justice Department and General Services Administration's Board of Contract Appeals didn't believe that it cost Hernandez's brother $100 a day-or $13,600-to put him up. When they asked Hernandez for a breakdown of the costs, he included such items as a cell phone, $373.39, and an entertainment center, $1,155.38.

The Federal Travel Regulation says a worker who stays with a relative or friend on business "may be reimbursed for additional costs your host incurs in accommodating you only if you are able to substantiate the costs and your agency determines them to be reasonable. You will not be reimbursed the cost of conventional lodging." But several agencies, including Justice, have gain-sharing programs that allow employees to keep some of the money saved by staying with friends or family.

Bum Steer

The Air Force civilian was not an infrequent traveler, so she couldn't get an exception to the requirement to use the official travel office. But in this situation, the regs limit the employee's liability to any cost above what it would have been if the ticket had been purchased properly.

The Air Force refused to pay her back, so Lee took the issue to the Board of Contract Appeals and won. The same thing happened to Vivian Nichols, also based in Las Vegas, who needed to go to Texas. And the same thing happened to Richard Mutzman of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, who was sent to training in Virginia.

Vera Wood and Michael Rierson, civilian employees at Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico, got bad information from a supervisor and bought tickets to Idaho from a travel agency that didn't have a contract with their office. The official travel agency had scheduled a route that took 13 hours each way and cost $600 per person. Wood and Rierson found a route that took eight hours and cost slightly less. They were denied reimbursement.

By the time D. Gregory Arnold, another civilian from Wright-Patterson, got to the appeals board, the judge was frustrated with the Air Force. Arnold asked the board to reimburse him for a trip to Florida for which he had purchased the tickets directly from an airline on-you guessed it-his supervisor's suggestion. In his order to reimburse Arnold, the judge cited the Wood case, which cited five other cases involving Air Force employees who had been denied reimbursement for tickets they bought from unauthorized sources. "The Air Force should cease its practice of denying reimbursement to employees in this situation," the decision says, and avoid "futile defenses of repetitious cases."

While government employees are required to buy their tickets through an in-house or contract travel office, civilians face no penalty for going elsewhere, as long as the ticket costs the same or less as it would have through the proper channels. Service members, on the other hand, will not be paid back if they buy a ticket the unorthodox way. They must take any reimbursement dispute to the Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals.

Travelers often get in trouble with the law while following orders. Those orders can be wrong, and if they conflict with the regulations, the government can't reimburse travelers-even if it wants to. That happened in a big way to 11 Social Security Administration workers. At the agency's direction, the employees stayed overnight near their workplace in Baltimore to attend a conference. SSA reimbursed nine of the workers for their lodging and meals, but refused to reimburse the other two. What's more, after realizing their mistake, agency officials wanted to get the money back from the nine who had gotten paid. The law doesn't allow the government to pay subsistence expenses for employees at their official station, even in unusual circumstances. Bad advice aside, the board ruled, "the agency's erroneous actions cannot create an entitlement."

Know The Way

• Make all travel arrangements through your travel management center, commercial travel office or in-house travel office. The law requires it. And even though few penalties apply if you ignore this law, you can ensure compliance with other rules (such as adherence to the city-pair contract and staying in fire safety-approved facilities) by following this one.
• Fly the airline that has the contract for your route. The law allows only limited exceptions to the requirement that federal travelers use the city-pair contract. If someone in your office tells you to go ahead and buy your ticket directly from the carrier, don't do it. This is one of the main reasons people get in trouble.
• Use your government travel card for all travel expenses-and only travel expenses. The only exception to the first part of this rule is for expenses that can't be put on a card, such as taxi fares or porter tips or purchases where the cards aren't accepted. There are no exceptions to the second half.