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Claim for Temporary Quarters Allowance

B-185983 Oct 16, 1980
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Highlights

A Federal employee requested reconsideration of a GAO decision which denied his claim for temporary quarters allowance incident to his transfer to a new duty station. In the prior decision, GAO held that, where the employee moved into a residence he had contracted to purchase at the new duty station with the intention of occupying these quarters on a permanent basis, he could not be paid temporary quarters allowance even though he paid rent to the owner of the residence prior to settlement on his contract for purchase. In requesting reconsideration of that decision, the employee argued that he had no knowledge of the Federal Travel Regulations (FTR) limiting reimbursement to temporary, rather than permanent, quarters. He further argued that for the period of time needed to close a home loan, hotel costs would have been higher than the rent he paid. As stated in the prior decision, an employee's entitlement to subsistence while occupying temporary quarters terminates when he occupies permanent residence quarters. Although the employee may not have had actual knowledge of the restrictions in these regulations, his entitlement was limited to those expenses allowable under the applicable statute and regulations. The fact that the employee may have saved the Government money by renting this residence instead of staying at a hotel does not affect his entitlement to temporary quarters allowance. The employee also argued that the regulations are intended to pay out-of-pocket expenses incident to a transfer. Employees are entitled to reimbursement only for those expenses allowable under the FTR and subject to the limitations contained in those regulations. The items claimed by the employee were not allowable for reimbursement under the FTR. Accordingly, the prior decision denying the claim was sustained.

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