Entitlement to Paid Travel Expenses

An employee of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) appealed a decision which denied his claim for travel expenses incurred in 1977 by him and his wife incident to obtaining medical treatment for him. The employee, stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela, traveled to Oklahoma for medical treatment. He contended that since his travel was performed at the insistence of the embassy personnel officer and embassy nurse, the United States was legally obligated to pay his travel expenses. He stated that legislation providing travel to foreign service employees for medical attention had been extended to FBI employees. The issue in this case was whether the employee was entitled to the medical travel benefits conferred upon FBI employees by the legislation even though the travel expenses were incurred prior to the passage of the legislation. This legislation authorized appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1978, and did not provide for retroactive application. Therefore, GAO concluded that the benefits conferred upon FBI employees for travel for medical purposes applied only to travel for medical purposes which occurred on or after the beginning of fiscal year 1979. Thus, there was no statutory authority on which to base payment of these medical travel expenses. Since no authority existed to pay the employee's expenses, he could not be reimbursd for the travel expenses incurred by his wife. Accordingly, the previous decision was sustained.