Reimbursement of Long-Distance Telephone Charges Incurred During Official Travel Incident to Discrimination Hearing

An advance decision was requested regarding an employee's claim for reimbursement of long-distance telephone charges incurred incident to a Civil Service Commission (CSC) hearing on his discrimination complaint. Reimbursement was claimed on the basis that the employee was traveling on official business when requested by CSC to submit a list of witnesses which required calls to his attorney. If the required certification is made by the proper administrative official, there would be no objection to reimbursement on the basis that the long-distance calls constituted a transaction of public business in the interest of the Government.