[Decision Concerning Interior Employee's Entitlement to Per Diem or Subsistence Expenses]

The Office of Surface Mining requested a decision as to whether an employee was entitled to reimbursement for the lodging and meal costs she incurred during her temporary stay at a hotel for an agency-sponsored conference. GAO noted that: (1) the employee incurred the expenses incident to her responsibilities in hosting the conference; (2) the locations of the conference and the employee's regular duty station were both within the same city, approximately 8 to 12 miles apart; and (3) the employee's travel voucher showed that she did not work later than 6 P.M. at the conference. GAO held that the employee was not entitled to reimbursement of her expenses, since the Federal Travel Regulations prohibited payment of per diem or actual subsistence expenses within the city limits of an employee's official duty station. Accordingly, the claim was denied.