Claim for Lodging Expenses and Parking Fees

A GAO employee filed a claim for reimbursement of the cost of lodging for 2 nights for himself and his wife, who accompanied him as his attendant. In addition, the employee claimed the costs incurred in parking his automobile at the hotel. The claim was denied. He had attended the 1980 annual meeting of the President's Committee on Employment of the Handicapped. The subsistence expenses of civilian employees at their official duty stations are considered to be personal to the employees and, in the absence of specific statutory authority, may not be provided at Government expense, regardless of any unusual working conditions involved. While GAO was fully cognizant of and sympathetic to the physical strain that would have been incurred by the employee had he traveled to and from his residence under the circumstances, GAO was constrained to hold that the lodging expenses incurred by the employee for the nights in question at his official duty station were personal to him. Inasmuch as the employee's lodging expenses were not reimbursable, such expenses incurred by his wife, as his attendant, may likewise not be paid by the Government. With respect to reimbursement of the claimed parking fees, Federal regulations authorize payment on a mileage basis for the use of a privately owned vehicle by employees when engaged on official business for the Government and, in addition, authorize reimbursement of parking fees. The employee was not authorized to use his automobile on official business. The claimed parking expenses resulted from his election to stay overnight at the hotel rather than travel to his residence for the nights in question. Accordingly, the claim for the lodging expenses and parking fees may not be paid.