Is this an ethical question or non-issue?
 

Last year I was returning home MAN-ORD when my flight was diverted to SNN. We had to stay overnight and I arrived home the next day. It was a business trip so I submitted expense reports for reimbursement of the airfare.

A few weeks later I applied for and received EU261 compensation (~$700). Would it be right to keep this or should I give this (or a portion) back to my employer? I'm not sure if this is a question of ethics or a non-issue altogether. I don't redeem miles for business travel, but is this different since I received cash?

Is this an ethical question or non-issue?
 

I would look at that as compensation for your time.

+1

Is this an ethical question or non-issue?
 

many employers have a specific policy on this.

I should add, it depends if it was really your time or not. For my employer, if you get money for a flight delay and the delay is hours on the clock, you can either keep the cash or take a day vacation. The idea is if your employer is paying you during the delay, you shouldn't get a windfall.

Is this an ethical question or non-issue?
 

United express flight connection in Denver was cancelled on the way back from a work conference. After spending all day in dia I was not in the mood to deal with UA customer service and argue for a good hotel that night so I expensed off a night at the airport marriott (it was 9pm by the time I made it to hotel and had left Vegas at 10:30am)

United offered to either pay for hotel and a $250 voucher of give me a $600 voucher. Due to logistics of paying back my company or even expensing partial charges (I turned a personal trip into work and was told to expense the whole airfare instead of just the change fee and fare adjustment) I took the voucher and never looked back. If it's a smaller more dynamic company maybe id give some money back for the room but otherwise like others hVe said its compensation for your time and most corporations are aware of this when sending people on the road.

This is not an ethics issue, but an employer policy and potentially a tax issue depending on where your income is taxed.

We're a small business (~65 employees) and corporate travel policies are sparse. I am salary and not hourly and I guess this did push my business travel into the weekend.

Is this compensation taxable?

If it was on your time, keep the compensation.

Tax laws vary by jurisdiction.

Be a Hero....small company, everyone including the No 1 will hear about your honesty and ethics. YOU CAN't buy that ,

The boss will be happy.

Colleagues may want to wring your neck for establishing the precedent.

I'm betting most bosses would tell you to keep it for having to deal with the delay.

Agreed.

I would say the hotel room (and any extra meals) should also be paid back. While things aren't always set up to catch double dipping it's wrong.

Exactly. Paying back things the employer doesn't know you should pay back clearly shows honesty about expenses.

Disagree that these things are mutually exclusive. If your employer doesn't have a specific policy, that does not resolve the ethical quandary. Ethical issues are involved with tax reporting all the time. Some folks say it's ethical to underreport income, others don't. The tax issue is the same.

I assume the airline paid for your hotel...?