Traveling on University Business  External research sponsors may have more or less restrictive rules than the University. Travelers traveling on sponsored funds should follow the most restrictive applicable policy (University policy or sponsor rules). However, if the sponsor has given prior written approval for certain expenses generally not allowed on non-sponsored funds, these costs may be allowed on sponsored funds.  Always check your grant NOGA or award documentation. Not all sponsors allow travel. If allowed, some may restrict the travel to specific events. Just because travel is budgeted does NOT mean it is allowed!  Travel expenses must be approved by a person who has the authority to approve or deny payment of the travel expenses. Normally the approver is one level senior to the traveler, but it may also be other person(s) in the department or unit who are not one level senior, but has been delegated the authority to approve or deny travel expenses. Under no circumstances should the delegation of approval authority create a situation where an employee is approving the expenses of their supervisor. Departments have the discretion to require their employees to obtain preapproval for travel. Air Transportation  Traveler(s) may, with preapproval from their unit, upgrade from coach to the next most economical class of travel over coach (business class in most cases, first class in cases where business class is not offered), when the total flight time from departure to arrival is 8 or more hours (including connecting domestic legs). The University does not reimburse any airline seat fees. Travel Meals  Meals included with a conference will not be reimbursed.  Travel begins when the employee leaves their home/office for their trip destination. First and last days of travel will be reimbursed at 75% of the per diem.  Suggested server tip cannot exceed 20% of the bill  Baggage carriers, bellhops and hotel maids are included in the allotted daily incidental amount, and should not be submitted/reimbursed as separate expense items. Extended Day Travel Meals (twelve or more hours in duration not requiring an overnight stay) The University will reimburse employees (faculty and staff) for dinner expenses only, if incurred during extended day (at least twelve hours in duration) travel business trips. For extended day travel, breakfast and lunch are never reimbursable expenses. The University will reimburse employees for dinner expenses only, at the applicable per diem rate, incurred during extended day travel if the following conditions apply: 

AND 

The extended day causes the employee to be away from home during the evening dinner meal time, and does not require an overnight stay. (For example, an employee of UMD who departs Duluth at 7:00 a.m. for a meeting in the Twin Cities and returns home at 7:00 p.m. is considered in "extended day" status.) Reimbursements are made to the employee on an occasional basis, which means that tracking the frequency of the reimbursements is not administratively practicable.

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Hospitality Expenses Incurred While Traveling  This policy also applies to employees incurring hospitality expenses while traveling on University business. Due to the higher expense limits for certain hospitality expenses, employees may not use this policy to circumvent travel per diem limits. Employees are assumed to be in “travel” status for purposes of reimbursement unless a clear case for hospitality status can be made. Employees cannot be reimbursed for both a hospitality meal and the per diem for the same meal. Travel and Employee Reimbursements Answers to the 5 W's must be provided, in addition:  Expense justification explaining who is traveling, what is the purpose of the travel, where, when, why travel is necessary and how the travel benefits/relate to the account charged, must be included on the document.  Refer to the section above within this Job Aid for documentation requirements for Entertainment, Hospitality and Recruiting transactions.  Clear explanations must be provided when justifying the following circumstances: o Purchases of common personal use items or items that do not appear to have a direct benefit to the University and/or project. o Unusual purchases for the type of account charged.  For payments and reimbursements associated with Human Subjects, refer to the specific policy and procedures for documentation requirements. Additional justification requirements for Sponsored Accounts ONLY:  Specify whether the traveler is presenting research. If not presenting, a specific purpose statement must be included (i.e. collaborate with other researchers, off-site research, conferences, project planning meeting, etc).  Description of work to be accomplished.  List either the names of participants or general description of their relationship to the project (i.e. sponsor representatives, industry advisors).  For reimbursement of pre-travel expenses on sponsored accounts, the justification must establish a beneficial or causal relationship of the travel to the project or account charged.  For additional information please refer to the Sponsored Projects Manual.  Effort must be certified on a sponsored account when travel expenses are charged.  For additional information please refer to the Sponsored Projects Manual and the Frequently Asked Questions in the travel policy. Fly America Act  Air Travel Federal requirement (known as the Fly America Act) states that "domestic grantees must use U.S. flag carriers to the maximum extent possible when commercial air transportation is the means of travel between the United States and a foreign country or between foreign countries. This requirement shall not be influenced by factors of cost, convenience or personal travel." Cash advances are only allowed when one or more of the following circumstances apply:  Travel will extend longer than fourteen days without return to employee's campus or University location.  Traveler will be paying for all business related expenses for a group consisting of two or more individuals.  Destination is such that service providers (food, lodging, auto rental, etc) do not honor the University charge/credit cards, (example, cash-based economy).  Cash for research subject payments.  Athletic recruiting. 2