flyinryan

(all together now) "How Cheap Is It?"
I am traveling back and forth to Milwaukee for the next few months while we finish up a big project. I have been with the company for well over a year now, and have been traveling since Jan of this year.
The company is so cheap that I have yet to be issued a company credit card of any kind. I can sort of understand that, but given that I'm expected to pay for hotels/rental cars for weeks at a time, airline tickets, etc, I think I'd rather just use a company card and let someone else deal with paying the bills on it. Sure, I want the points, but...our travel policy and accounting is just really screwy. (Small company, 22 people.)
But this one really burns my bacon: the boss says "Well, since you are going to be staying at a Residence Inn, and they have a kitchen in the room, I'm not going to pay you the full $44 per diem, since you can go to the grocery store and make dinner in your room. I'll pay you $33 per diem instead."

This is pretty underhanded, and I didn't like it one bit. My question is: is that legal? What are the laws involving that kind of thing? I can throw it right back in her cheap face and make her change it - if I can prove that it's not legal or something. What would you experienced, savvy travelers out there do?

catwood

I'd complain, and if i didn't like it i'd escalate it to your bosses boss. (in my case that's the CEO, small company).

Chris

party_boy

Change your hotel to one that doesn't have a kitchen...and hopefully one more expensive.

flyinryan

I negotiated with the hotel for a rate of $99/night for the company. You'd think she might be grateful that she's not paying full price for it!
I should add in this other little quirk: the CEO and COO are effectively the owners of the company, and are also husband and wife. It's their company. They started it 20+ years ago - and maybe nickel and dime things like this are why they can't keep people in the field service department!

ElmhurstNick

If the company cannot commit to 15 day turnaround on expense reports, then it's time to explain that your credit cards are maxed out and how exactly would they like to pay for the next trip.

AlanInDC

Yes, that is cheap. Of course whether it is worth a battle depends on how you are treated in the aggregate. Each organization has some kind of seemingly silly, cheap, or otherwise odd policy.

I have to say that I'm not a fan of Residence Inn. For that price range, I much prefer Courtyard. Of course, when I travel for work, I have no intention of preparing any meals and so I have no need for kitchen facilities.

TierFlyer

I think I had your boss.

If it's just a job, put in for the full per-diem and wait until someone notices and then just look all innocent.

Then have the hotel run out of occupancy and go somewhere else.

And then find a new job. The economy is rocking, make your move.

Canarsie

I once was employed by a company which questioned a 35� toll on my expense report.

An impromptu discussion ensued at an open area of the office for at least 45 minutes between the person from accounting who disputed my expense report, my boss and myself. I was questioned as to why I did not exit the highway sooner to avoid the toll. In addition to the three of us wasting far greater than 35� of our time discussing this, a fourth person was eavesdropping in the background, snickering and chuckling at the absurdity of the situation.

That was a really productive day.

By the way, the 35� receipt was the only expense that was disputed on my expense report.

Oh � and along with a �scolding� not to do it again, I was paid the 35� as well.

Needless to say, that office no longer exists.

PhlyingRPh

Flyinryan,

Ordinarily I would be speechless, had I not experienced the following a few years ago...

I was working with a large Health-System west of Chicago a few years ago. Their travel policy for their people (and consultants) attending professional meetings was something like this. "Personnel attending professional meetings will not be reimbursed for meal expenses since they would ordinarily be responsible for meals whether they are at home or traveling on behalf of the company. Personnel will have the opportunity to network with peers at industry supported hospitality suites, dinners and other networking events during which food is served. Therefore [Squeekycheap Health System will not reimburse for dinner costs during such meetings."

Still, I can't believe your company would risk upsetting you over a measly $10 per day. They'll be asking you for your frequent flyer miles to buy air tickets next!

Internaut

The credit card: Get the best cash back, miles or points card you can and benefit from it as much as you can. We have people here who might just envy you for not being forced to use a company card that gives you no trace of any benefit whatsoever.

The per diem: The company policy shouldn't really be negotiable otherwise there isn't much point in having a policy. Also, I suspect it might not be legal (though depending on how much time you've been taking it up the a** for this particular employer, it may be possible for them to argue it's an implied part of your contract). Oh, and you go to a client's site to work; not to cook, clean or iron!

Expenses turn around time: Make a point of letting them know the terms of your credit card. Also, I suspect your employer is liable for interest charges where you need to carry a balance due to expenses.

Do you really want to be working for people who think like this?

flyinryan

That's a pretty lame policy! Hell, that makes my company look downright generous! When the hotel I stay in has a free breakfast (like Residence Inn,) the daily breakfast rate is deducted from the per diem payment. I think that's being exceedingly cheap. Honestly, these people have made a mint from this company, but they will happily go open the safe to make change for a dime.

The day they ask me to use miles for a work trip is the day I clean out my desk and say Sayonara! On the plus side, the company is pretty good about allowing me a choice of airline. United is about $100 more to MKE than the cheapest fare (Frontier,) and about 30 seconds of internet searching would verify that, yet there are no complaints about a UA ticket. So I guess I should be grateful for that at least. I get that its' a small company, but...jeeeez!

flyinryan

Hey - I used to work for the federal government, too!

flyinryan

She's the COO. Her boss is the CEO. They are also married.
I know, I know...flyinryan, what the hell did you get yourself into?

747LWW

GOOD but hope you came out of that terrible experience OK.

sam123

Wow. What would I do? I would make sure my profile on Monster is up to date, and start putting feelers out through my LinkedIn network. I would have to, because if someone had said that to my face, I would have told them where and how deep they could stick their $33.

Anyway, regarding law, I'm not a lawyer and don't play one on TV, but the closest I could Google for is this employment law bulletin that talks about a recent court case on reimbursement of necessary expenses. Bottom line: not good for you. Although law in CA requires employers to indemnify all employees on necessary expenditures, employers in practice have quite a bit of latitude on how they achieve that (like in this case where salesrep car use was not reimbursed separately by the employer since they said they pay outside sales reps higher base salary and commission rate to cover car use, and the court agreed).

Throwing the letter of the law at them isn't probably going to help you here, it's too general (as often is the case); and as always law is interpreted by the courts and unless you're willing to sue them you won't know.

So, my best guess is that you need to fix this by managing your bosses through reason and salesmanship, or it's time to head back to Monster...

Sorry!

Sami