Reimbursement for Expenses Necessary To Obtain Reduced Air Fare

A certifying officer with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) requested an advance decision on the propriety of paying the reclaim voucher of an employee for an extra day's subsistence expenses incurred in order to obtain reduced air fare. The expenses were originally disallowed by FMCS because they were incurred after the closing date of the conference the employee was attending. However, by staying one extra day, the employee was able to take advantage of a lower air fare which resulted in a savings to the Government, even after the extra subsistence expenses were deducted. A provision of an FCMS bulletin prohibited payment for expenses incurred after the closing date of the conference. At the same time, it instructed employees to obtain any reduced travel fares that they possibly could. Since the provisions of the FCMS bulletin were ambiguous when applied to this case, the provision barring payment must be considered invalid. Accordingly, the reclaim voucher submitted was certified for payment.