§ 301-7.15 - Interruptions of per diem entitlement.

For purposes of this section, the term place of abode means the place from which the employee commutes daily to the official station.

(a) Leave and nonworkdays—(1) General. Leave of absence (other than as provided in paragraph (d) of this section) for one-half, or less, of the prescribed daily working hours shall be disregarded for per diem purposes. Where the leave is more than one-half of the prescribed daily working hours, no per diem shall be allowed for that day.

(2) Nonworkdays. Legal Federal Government holidays and weekends or other scheduled nonworkdays are considered nonworkdays. Employees are considered to be in a per diem status on nonworkdays except when they return to their official station or place of abode (see paragraph (b) of this section), or except under conditions stated in paragraphs (a)(2)(i) and (ii) of this section.

(i) Leave before and after nonworkdays. Per diem shall not be paid for nonworkdays when:

(A) Employees are in a leave status at the end of the workday before the nonworkdays and at the beginning of the workday following the nonworkdays, and

(B) The period of leave on either of those days is more than one-half of the prescribed working hours for that day.

(ii) Leave between nonworkdays. Per diem shall not be paid for more than two nonworkdays in cases where leave of absence is taken for all of the prescribed working hours between the nonworkdays.

(b) Return to official station for nonworkdays—(1) Required return—official business. An employee who is required by appropriate agency officials to return to his/her official station for the nonworkdays to perform official business or because it is otherwise advantageous to the Government shall be allowed the round-trip transportation expenses and per diem for the en route travel.

(2) Authorized return—substantial cost savings. An agency may authorize per diem and transportation expenses to an employee to return home for nonworkdays where a significant cost savings will be achieved. Travel time shall be scheduled within the employee's duty hours to the extent practicable. The cost of lost productivity attributable to the duty hours involved in traveling to and from the employee's residence for nonworkdays shall be considered in determining the cost savings.

(3) Authorized return incident to extended temporary duty. Employees who are required to routinely perform extended periods of temporary duty may, at agency discretion and within the limits of appropriations available for payment of travel expenses, be authorized round-trip transportation expenses and per diem en route for periodic return travel to their official stations or places of abode for nonworkdays. Agencies are cautioned that this authority is to be used with the utmost discretion and consideration of the length and purpose of the temporary duty assignments and the distance of the return travel. The periodic return travel may be authorized if the conditions specified in paragraphs (b)(3)(i) and (ii) of this section are met.

(i) The head of the agency or his/her designee has determined, based on an appropriate cost analysis, that the costs of periodic weekend return travel (including the costs of potential overtime, if applicable) are outweighed by savings in terms of increased employee efficiency and productivity, as well as reduced costs of recruitment and retention of employees. This cost analysis shall be conducted no less frequently than every other year.

(ii) Return travel for nonworkdays authorized under these provisions constitutes an exception to the directive on scheduling of travel contained in 5 U.S.C. 6101(b)(2) and therefore should be performed outside the employee's regularly scheduled duty hours or during periods of authorized leave. However, in the case of employees not exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act overtime provisions, consideration should be given to scheduling the authorized travel to minimize payment of overtime, including scheduling of travel during regularly scheduled duty hours when necessary. (See Office of Personnel Management regulations for further guidelines covering overtime during travel.)

(4) Voluntary return. When an employee voluntarily returns to his/her official station or place of abode for nonworkdays, the maximum reimbursement for the round-trip transportation and per diem en route shall be limited to the per diem allowance and travel expenses which would have been allowed had the employee remained at the temporary duty station. The employee shall perform any such voluntary return travel during nonduty hours or periods of authorized leave.

(c) Indirect route or interrupted travel. If there is an interruption of travel or deviation from the direct route resulting in excess travel time because of an employee's personal preference or convenience or through the taking of leave, the per diem allowed shall not exceed that which would have been allowed on uninterrupted travel by a direct or usually traveled route except as provided in part 301-12 for certain emergency travel situations. (See §§ 301-2.5, 301-7.2(a)(2), and 301-11.5(a)(3).)

(d) Illness or injury or a personal emergency situation. Provisions governing per diem allowable for emergency travel performed due to an employee's incapacitating illness or injury or because of a personal emergency situation, as well as the continuation of per diem due to incapacitating illness or injury of the employee, are found in part 301-12.