Claim for Reimbursement for Mileage

An opinion was requested as to whether an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employee was entitled to reimbursement for mileage. As instructed by her supervisor, the employee drove another IRS employee home from the hospital, because she had been in an accident and was unable to drive. On another occasion, the employee departed from her usual course of travel to: (1) deliver paperwork concerning the accident to the injured employee; and (2) drive another employee, who was filling in for an absentee, to work. The employee requested reimbursement for mileage for all three trips. IRS denied the claim for reimbursement on the grounds that the travel was not official Government business. GAO had overruled a previous decision which denied a mileage allowance and limited reimbursement to actual expenses to an employee who transported an injured employee home from a temporary duty (TDY) site. GAO held that: (1) travel which is authorized or approved for returning an injured employee on TDY to his home should be treated as necessary to carry out the agency's mission under Federal Travel Regulations; and (2) such travel shall, in the future, be regarded as official business and the expenses for it may be paid. In this case, the claimant's trips, in all cases, should be considered as official business. Accordingly, the total amount claimed for mileage may be certified for payment.