GovernmentExecutive.com

ometimes even the most experienced travelers find the government's travel policy, procedures and regulations confusing. This month, we inaugurate an occasional Government Executive travel feature: "Ask the Experts." You ask, and we'll do our best to find an expert to give you the answer.

BY THE MILE

Q: Why do the mileage reimbursements for temporary duty and vicinity travel exceed that for permanent change of station by almost 100 percent?

A: For temporary duty and vicinity travel, the mileage allowance is intended to reimburse employees for the cost and operation of a personal vehicle used on official business. The allowance is based on the criteria found in Title 5 of the U.S. Code, Section 5707, but it may never exceed the standard mileage allowance set by the IRS for tax purposes.

For permanent-change-of-station travel, the mileage allowance is reimbursed as a transportation expense, not as an allowance for the cost and operation of the vehicle. That mileage rate is based on the cost of flying one passenger one mile. That number may have changed recently, but at one point last year the airline industry's average cost of flying one passenger one mile was 10.9 cents.

TRAVEL ON THE CLOCK

Q: I think government employees should be treated like their equivalents in the private sector. Exempt employees in the private sector do not receive additional compensation to travel for training.

In a training situation, the government has control of the schedule. It could schedule travel on the Friday before a Monday training course and pay per diem for the weekend. And if management initiates the trip on Sunday instead of Friday, it controls the scheduling of the work, i.e., the travel. Management also could delay the training or not send the employee at all.

Scheduling should only be considered outside the government's control in emergencies - when FEMA has to respond to a flood or earthquake, for example, or when an agency must call employees in to perform unscheduled tasks, such as fixing a computer breakdown.

A: A recent Society for Human Resource Management survey of 551 organizations shows that most support this reader's assertion that exempt employees in the private sector do not receive additional compensation to travel for training. The survey found that only 28 percent of respondents offer compensatory time off for time spent traveling on business, and only 8 percent provide additional pay for weekend travel.

Regarding the government's control in a training situation, section 5542(b)(2) of Title 5 rules out overtime pay or compensatory time off for travel to an event when the scheduling of the event is administratively controllable. If an employee's agency or another executive branch agency has any control over the scheduling, including approval of a contract, then the event is administratively controllable, and travel to and from the event cannot be credited as hours of work and compensated.

As a result, federal employees generally are not entitled to overtime pay or compensatory time off for travel that occurs outside the employee's basic workweek or on weekends, such as travel on Sunday afternoon to attend a government training course that begins on Monday morning.

If an agency orders an employee to attend an event (such as a training, a meeting, etc.) scheduled entirely by a private corporation, state government or federal court, the scheduling of that event is administratively uncontrollable. An employee would earn additional hours of work by traveling to and from that event. If the additional hours of work exceed eight hours in a day or 40 hours in a week, the employee would be entitled to overtime pay or compensatory time off for the hours in excess of those overtime pay standards.

Q: In your January article, "On Your Own Time," you talked about the lack of compensation for travel outside work hours.What about those on flexible work schedules who travel on their day off? Are there any provisions to compensate them for their time, or are they in the same boat? A: Federal employees on alternative work schedules are covered by the same laws that govern travel time as hours of work for employees on traditional work schedules. To avoid having an employee travel on his or her day off, an agency may design a flexible work program so that employees must revert to a traditional fixed schedule (eight hours a day, 40 hours a week) during pay periods in which they perform work-related travel away from the official duty station.