Claim for Additional Weekend Expenses

A certifying officer asked whether an employee of the Bureau of Reclamation was entitled to compensation for lodging costs for 3 nights spent away from his temporary duty assignment although not on official travel. The record showed that the employee began his 90-day rotational field assignment in Parker, Arizona, on February 20, 1979, and rented an apartment at the temporary duty site. On the nights of March 23 and 24, the employee lodged in Las Vegas, Nevada, approximately 400 miles away from his temporary duty location. Also, the employee spent March 31, 1979, in Van Nuys, California. In neither place was the employee on official business. GAO held that since official business was not transacted at the off-duty locations in question and since reimbursable travel expenses are confined to those prudently incurred and essential to official business, there is no authority to allow the employee more for travel expenses than he would have been allowed had he stayed at Parker during the weekends in question. As the employee incurred lodging expenses during the 3 days for rental of an apartment at his temporary duty station, which he was reimbursed, GAO found no authority for reimbursement of the lodging expenses incurred in either Las Vegas or Van Nuys. Accordingly, payment of the claim was not authorized.