[Appeal of Claims Group's Disallowance of Claim for Subsistence Expenses]

A Federal Aviation Administration employee appealed a Claims Group settlement which disallowed his claim for the actual subsistence expenses incurred during a temporary duty assignment because the Claims Group determined that his claim for lodging expenses was of doubtful validity. The employee appealed the settlement, contending that the agency failed to show that he fraudulently claimed motel and noncommercial lodging costs. He also contended that he claimed meal expenses for his nonworkday travel in good faith and that those expenses are reimbursable. Although GAO found that the agency failed to establish fraud on the part of the employee, it found that the employee failed to demonstrate that he was entitled to reimbursement for his motel expenses in the amount claimed. However, he may be reimbursed the amounts recorded in the motel records. Since the employee failed to meet his burden of proof of the government's liability for his lodging expenses, his claim for noncommercial lodging expenses may not be allowed. Finally, GAO found that the employee may not be reimbursed for meal expenses on the days he returned home, even though he may have claimed those expenses in good faith, because a traveler who voluntarily returns home on nonworkdays may be reimbursed only for his round-trip transportation costs and subsistence expenses en route, not to exceed his constructive travel and subsistence expenses at the temporary duty site. Accordingly, GAO reversed the Claims Group's determination that the employee's claim for lodging expenses was of doubtful validity, and the employee's claim for subsistence expenses should be settled in accordance with this decision.