Reimbursement for Forest Service Employee's Food Costs -- J.D. MacWilliams

The Forest Service requested a decision as to whether an employee could be reimbursed for the cost of meal expenses incurred while attending a meeting at his official duty station. GAO held that: (1) as a general rule, an employee may not be paid a per diem allowance at his permanent duty station because such expenses are considered personal to the employee; (2) the government may not furnish free meals to employees at their official duty stations even when unusual working conditions are involved; (3) reimbursement is only allowed where the meal is incident to a formal meeting or conference that includes substantial functions separate from the meal; and (4) since there was no evidence that the meal was part of a formal meeting that included functions during and separate from the meal, the employee could not be reimbursed for meal expenses. Accordingly, the claim was denied.