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  • Open Comment Period: May 22 - June 5, 2023

    May 22, 2023 12:00 am by Policy Office

    The Office of the Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Comptroller announces an open comment period (beginning 05/22/23 and closing 06/05/23) for Headquarters and Travel Status. This policy has been updated to clarify when an employee is on travel status and define terms relating to the application of the policy.

    Highlights include:

    • Details concerning when an employee is on travel status.
    • When employee travel status begins and ends.
    • Employee reimbursement eligibility for occasional trips to campus.
    • Definitions of applicable terms.
    • Updated resources.

    Contact

    • If you have questions about the updates to policy, please contact the CFO Business and Finance Policy Office at (312) 585-9071 or obfspolicies@uillinois.edu.
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Comments

wkunde@illinois.edu Jun 2, 2023 3:53 pm
There needs to be clearer guidelines for those who travel to a second residence out of state for personal reasons and get called back to campus for a meeting; is the University responsible for reimbursing travel expenses to campus and a return trip back to the second residence?
Reply to wkunde@illinois.edu at 3:53 pm
mdevocel@illinois.edu Jun 2, 2023 9:38 am
There should be a clearer definition in the tax section of when an employee is "required" to be remote. The guidance in this draft policy states - "To meet the convenience of the employer tax rules, the employee's principal place of business is an employee's home if is is required by the employer." That same paragraph further states - "If an employee requests to work remotely as opposed to being required by the employer, travel to and from the employee's home and the employer is commuting." This should be more clearly defined in terms of cases where a search might yield a good employee but that candidate doesn't want to move to campus to work. If the nature of the job would allow for remote work, then it would seem that the employee has requested this remote work versus a mandate by the employer that they must work remote, regardless of whether the department approves of this remote situation or not. The same could be true for a current employee who requests to work remote from another state due to a life change such as a significant other who needs to relocate for a job. In either scenario, there could likely be tax consequences for any approved reimbursements for travel to campus when required for work purposes. Would suggest better linkage between language at the top of the section on the first page of the policy regarding departmental approval of remote work and the language on the last page that describes potential tax implications of reimbursement for travel for these kinds of situations. A unit might think that simply because they approved a remote work location that there would be no tax consequences for a reimbursement for travel to campus from their home.
Reply to mdevocel@illinois.edu at 9:38 am
adudley@illinois.edu Jun 1, 2023 3:40 pm
Some remote/hybrid employees can also have 2 headquarters (a residence in the Champaign-Urbana area that they reside in 8-10 months/year and a second residence out of state that they reside in 2-4 months/year), so some language is needed to be able to change the headquarters mid-year (which may also trigger a different travel/reimbursement treatment).
Reply to adudley@illinois.edu at 3:40 pm
adudley@illinois.edu Jun 1, 2023 3:31 pm
Commuting and travel mileage for remote and hybrid work needs better defined to remove the ambiguity (and different interpretations/coverages that will likely vary between departments). Something like: any remote/hybrid employees residing within the State of Illinois (or some other defined/measurable boundary) are fully responsible for all travel/mileage costs to and from campus for onsite work and/or meetings (the equivalent of commuting expenses for 100% onsite employees).
Reply to adudley@illinois.edu at 3:31 pm
cooper21@illinois.edu May 26, 2023 11:08 am
The paragraph on travel mileage is still not very detailed and doesn’t seem to address common situations. Getting rid of the picture makes it harder to follow the example. I would like to see more examples and better images, not less.
Reply to cooper21@illinois.edu at 11:08 am
cooper21@illinois.edu May 26, 2023 11:04 am
I think departments would appreciate more guidance on when to approve fully remote employees being eligible for reimbursement to campus. What are best practices? I like the idea someone else had of codifying “in-person required” vs “in-person optional.”
Reply to cooper21@illinois.edu at 11:04 am
cooper21@illinois.edu May 26, 2023 10:55 am
From an Extension department perspective since most of our employees do not work on campus (and I know we’re not the only department with off-campus locations), it seems like it would be cleaner to me to replace the word “campus” in this policy with “headquarters office” or “headquarters location” since that’s what it means in this policy. Wording is applied inconsistently throughout this policy.
Reply to cooper21@illinois.edu at 10:55 am
cooper21@illinois.edu May 26, 2023 9:57 am
As a department with a ton of employees who travel every single day, we get a lot of questions about travel and commute mileage, and these changes won’t clear up any of the questions we get, or at least it doesn’t seem to fully line up with clarifications we’ve received on the policy. Like in the John and Mary example (or anywhere else in this policy), there’s absolutely no mention of employees having to deduct out their commute mileage from their reimbursement after entering their mileage from their home to their work destination (which is what we were recently told we were required to do). Our people need to know (1) how they’re expected to enter their mileage into Chrome River in different scenarios, and (2) what mileage they’re actually eligible to be reimbursed for. Below is the clarification we received from payables recently which we have made available to all of our employees and it has helped answer a lot of questions that are not addressed in the written policy at all: Scenario 1: If employee travels directly from home (or other personal location) to a work destination: 1. Determine whether home or headquarters location is closer to destination. 2a. If HQ is closer, enter mileage reimbursement from HQ to destination. 2b. If home is closer, enter mileage reimbursement from home to destination and then deduct commute mileage. Scenario 2: If employee travels from home to HQ and then to a work destination: Can either a. Enter just mileage from HQ to destination OR b. Enter mileage from home to HQ to destination and then deduct commute mileage from home to HQ. [reimbursable mileage will be exactly the same either way you enter it] Scenario 3: If not regular workday (e.g. you officially work M-F but had to travel for a work-related reason on the weekend): 1. Enter all work-related mileage beginning/ending from home. Do not need to deduct commute mileage. 2. Document in the business purpose of that mileage in Chrome River that this was not a regular workday for you.
Reply to cooper21@illinois.edu at 9:57 am
sfquigle@illinois.edu May 24, 2023 2:21 pm
There should be only two categories of meeting/on-campus activity - 'in-person required' and 'in- person not required'. Fully remote and hybrid (no matter their classification or appointment) should be paid travel to and from any 'in person required' meetings/event because the nature of the event dictates the necessity of the travel expense. This will also encourage leaders to think carefully about whether an in-person meeting is needed, and budget accordingly. Related to the above, leaders (supervisors, managers, directors, etc) must be specifically restricted from characterizing any meeting as anything other than the two classifications above. Many meeting-makers have a bad habit of abusing phrases like 'in-person attendance strongly recommended', 'we'd like to see everyone in-person', or similar. If a meeting is sufficiently important to warrant in-person attendance, there's no reason to be coy about it, and the relevant department should be accepting of the monetary cost of their decision.
Reply to sfquigle@illinois.edu at 2:21 pm
abritten@illinois.edu May 24, 2023 11:06 am
I agree with many of the comments that do not believe fully remote employees should be eligible for reimbursement, particularly when they have requested fully remote status or chosen it from options. As others have indicated, they are benefitting with other cost savings. I suppose an exception could be made if there is an employee who is required to work remotely. If this policy were to be enacted, I think the the allowance made in this policy for this being at the unit's discretion and approval is a good thing if they are consistent. However, I feel this should only be enacted for required remote workers.
Reply to abritten@illinois.edu at 11:06 am
jlyork@uic.edu May 24, 2023 9:33 am
The policy needs to address all remote situations, not just typical remote work arrangements. It should include faculty on sabbatical or fellowship who are based in other states or countries (like in the previous lease policy). It should also include faculty and staff who claim their "home" is in another state and want to business travel to/from that location and not from UIC or the vicinity of UIC. It should also include a simplified and standardized approval document that states the employee's home base for attaching in Chrome River instead of potentially outdate sabbatical paperwork or personal offer letters. The policy should be standardized across the UIL system and not left up to individual departments to determine what is and isn't approved business travel.
Reply to jlyork@uic.edu at 9:33 am
laureen@uic.edu May 23, 2023 3:43 pm
Remote employees should not be eligible for reimbursement for travel to work. Employees who work on campus do not receive pay for driving to work. Remote employees already enjoy perks that employees that work on campus do not (ie, saving in cost of fuel, wear on vehicle, clothing costs, etc). In addition, the University does not have a good method to track what employees are doing while working remotely. It is time for all to return to work onsite.
Reply to laureen@uic.edu at 3:43 pm
tklinker@illinois.edu May 23, 2023 2:09 pm
It might be helpful to include language that includes travel reimbursements to campus are at the digression of the department. Staff that are work remotely that "want" to come to campus cannot expect to get reimbursed for travel. Staff being required/asked to come to campus for various reasons - should expect to be reimbursed. Will you require a Headquarters designation form to be completed for all staff remote/out of state to be reimbursed for travel? We have had significant trouble and conflicting information as to when/if the form needs to be completed for traveling staff. As a unit with a significant amount of staff that work permanently remote - getting clarification on what will actually be required will be beneficial.
Reply to tklinker@illinois.edu at 2:09 pm
sthomas8@illinois.edu May 23, 2023 1:37 pm
The policy looks good. Regarding some of the comments, a key point in the policy is that reimbursement from Headquarters to Campus is at *Department/Unit discretion*. Units certainly don't have to reimburse. I work in an academic department and we have faculty that teach fully online. We have one faculty member located in the Western US and one in the Northeastern US. When either comes to Champaign, there's a business reason for it so we like to reimburse. As remote work expands though, we'll likely need to develop some unit guidelines since different types of scenarios could be out there compared to what we have currently.
Reply to sthomas8@illinois.edu at 1:37 pm
tkavuk1@uic.edu May 22, 2023 3:48 pm
The proposed revision to the Headquarters definition does not seem to include 3rd-location duty sites (ie. not headquarters *and* not employee's official residence). The Official Headquarters Designation Form currently on the OBFS policy page applies to these situations but there is nothing in the proposed definition outlining when the form would apply. Example: contract/sponsored project for long-term placement of a university employee at site designated by program sponsor.
Reply to tkavuk1@uic.edu at 3:48 pm
tduggan@illinois.edu May 22, 2023 2:11 pm
The words “fully [remote]” and “occasional [trips]” must be defined. Is this is simply left up to the paying department’s “consistent” discretion, the argument stands that savings on fuel/parking are benefits already built in to the remote work lifestyle. Seems like University Payables will need to specify and enforce additional qualifying Business Purpose circumstances that make this category of reimbursement allowable.
Reply to tduggan@illinois.edu at 2:11 pm
tduggan@illinois.edu May 22, 2023 2:02 pm
The words “fully [remote]” and “occasional [trips]” must be defined. If this is simply left up to each paying department’s “consistent” discretion, the argument stands that savings on fuel/parking are benefits already built in to the remote-work lifestyle that the rest of us cannot access. It seems like University Payables will need to specify and enforce additional (new) qualifying Business Purpose circumstances that make this category of reimbursement allowable.
Reply to tduggan@illinois.edu at 2:02 pm
mftzgrl@illinois.edu May 22, 2023 1:12 pm
I do not feel that fully remote employees OR hybrid employees should get and travel expenses when we come to campus for anything. That IS in fact commuting. I work a hybrid schedule, I would never expect mileage to come to campus on my remote days. If that were the case, then ALL employees should get mileage to commute to and from work, which is absurd. People traveling to campus for business when working from home are already fortunate to not have the gas expense to commute to work. We should not expect mileage.
Reply to mftzgrl@illinois.edu at 1:12 pm
jmoor@illinois.edu May 22, 2023 1:08 pm
This seems straightforward enough, that travel status is leaving and returning to "campus" My issues are with the per diem & brow beating the traveler, where did you eat, were you with colleagues or other conference goers. If my person is in another state on UIUC business, then they get to eat 3 meals a day. By sending the ER back to ask if they went to lunch with other people is moot. STop with the sending stuff back that has no bearing. They are off campus and on business else where.
Reply to jmoor@illinois.edu at 1:08 pm
unangst@illinois.edu May 22, 2023 12:25 pm
Reimbursement for return travel to the University seems fair if travel back to the University is REQUIRED by the department. Voluntary travel should not be reimbursed. However, if remote work is local to the department, it seems unnecessary. Maybe the limits or circumstances need to be defined a little more closely.
Reply to unangst@illinois.edu at 12:25 pm
saj@uic.edu May 22, 2023 12:16 pm
I do not believe employees should be reimbursed for travel to campus, even if they are fully remote. Moving forward with this policy change brings up the question of how far away would UIC be willing to compensate remote employees. If a remote employee decides to move to a remote location away from campus, would UIC be responsible for compensating them to come to work on campus? It seems that is what is being suggested here. Being able to work remotely is a benefit that is not being offered to all employees, even when they have demonstrated that remote work is possible and productive. By paying remote employees to come to work, the University is further benefiting remote workers. Many faculty and staff members do not have the option for full remote status and have to drive to work every day. This is unfair to the majority of faculty and staff that work on campus and in related locations. I believe this is an unnecessary expense for University programs.
Reply to saj@uic.edu at 12:16 pm
holman1@illinois.edu May 22, 2023 12:06 pm
Will there be a field provided in Chrome River to assist with designated Headquarters when staff are claiming mileage? A check for when approving mileage without going into each individual Banner / employee record since everyone isn't on campus anymore it is cumbersome to track the remote employee's headquarters.
Reply to holman1@illinois.edu at 12:06 pm
holman1@illinois.edu May 22, 2023 12:04 pm
I agree with this comment - I do not believe employees should be reimbursed for travel to campus even if they are fully remote. Many faculty and staff members to not have to option for full remote status and have to drive to work and pay for parking every day. This is un-fair to the majority of faculty and staff that are working on campus. Not only do they have less wear and tear on their personal vehicle, do not have to pay for the additional fuel costs, they do not have to pay for parking on a monthly basis. Unless you are going to provide some sort of benefit for everyone that works on campus this should not be put into place.
Reply to holman1@illinois.edu at 12:04 pm
alrobert@illinois.edu May 22, 2023 11:04 am
I do not believe employees should be reimbursed for travel to campus even if they are fully remote. Many faculty and staff members to not have to option for full remote status and have to drive to work and pay for parking every day. This is un-fair to the majority of faculty and staff that are working on campus. Not only do they have less wear and tear on their personal vehicle, do not have to pay for the additional fuel costs, they do not have to pay for parking on a monthly basis. Unless you are going to provide some sort of benefit for everyone that works on campus this should not be put into place.
Reply to alrobert@illinois.edu at 11:04 am