Long-Term Training and Travel Entitlements

The Department of State requested an opinion as to whether the agency might offer a female employee the option of being assigned to long-term training at Stanford University on temporary duty (TDY) with payment of per diem or on a permanent change of station. The female employee, a Foreign Service officer who was stationed in Warsaw, Poland, took a leave without pay due to pregnancy. She returned to the United States as a dependent on her Foreign Service officer husband's orders effecting a permanent change of station for long-term training at Stanford University in California. She was returned to active duty in Washington, D.C., incident to continuing long-term training in California parallel in duration to that of her husband. It was held that since Washington, D.C., was not the permanent duty station of the female employee, she was not eligible to receive TDY orders and the payment of per diem during her time at Stanford University. She would be entitled to payment of subsistence/per diem during the period of consultation in Washington, D.C., prior to her transfer to Stanford University for long-term training.