Q.  I am a government employee who was assigned a job that was expected to last three days but finished it ahead of time and flew home on the evening of the second day.  Since I would have had over a 90 minute ride home I stayed in a hotel that night.  Am I entitled to per diem for lodging and food?

A.  A recent case - Jerry Dulworth, et al GSBCA 16035 TRAV – ruled that under similar circumstances the employee was not entitled to any per diem stating that Paragraph C4552 of the Joint Travel Regulations is clear that per diem reimbursement is not permitted at  employees’ permanent duty station.  Of course, since the JTR has  limited applicability to private contractors, such a restriction would probably not apply to them even though an auditor may assert that FTRs provide guidelines on what is reasonable and not.  

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