New Travel Policy announcement

[Business Affairs Office News]

To our UO Travel Community:

The UO has been working since 2015 to review and revamp our UO Travel Policy.  A committee of travelers, travel coordinators, budget managers and UO Internal Audit came together to review existing policy, IRS Accountable Plan guidelines and offer recommendations for an updated, streamlined, and more flexible travel policy.  Travel policy has been vetted by additional authorities across campus including VPs, General Counsel and President Schill who officially signed this new travel policy effective April. 1.  UO Business Affairs is pleased to announce our refurbished travel website and procedures pertaining to new travel policy.

Travel policy and procedures are located on the Business Affairs webpage :  http://ba.uoregon.edu/content/travel

Website Features

Policy:  UO Travel Policy, the overall guiding principle is organized into easy to find sections.

Procedures:  Within each Policy section you will find a window to Procedures with explanations, account code information, instructions and examples.  Click on the Procedure link in each section for more information.

Content Box: Box in the upper right corner contains shortcut links to various travel topics.

Related Resources:  See the bottom of the Content box for a table of Travel Resources including Forms, Per Diem Table, Mileage Table, Travel Office Contact Information, Travel Agency Information, Contract Car Rental Codes, UO Hotel Pricing Partner chart and more.    You will also find the Unused Ticket Report from our UO Contract Travel Agencies.

Notable Policy Changes:

*         Reimbursements should be submitted within a reasonable period of time, generally within 60 days of the completion of travel.

*         No direct route requirement for air travel, and thus no comparison quotes are required.  (Comparison quotes are still required when combining business with personal time.)

*         Business justification not required for rental car versus taxi or shuttle

*         No size restrictions on rental car

*         Two airline bag fees allowed

*         Flexibility in IRS Lodging per diem guidelines - policy notes justification is required.  If amount is within reason and supervisor is willing to support, authorize and sign the travel reimbursement for the policy exception

*         Tips on taxi are no longer defined as "incidental" and can be reimbursed up to the state standard of 15%

*         Meal per diem - initial and final travel days allowed at 75% of full rate per IRS requirement

*         On elapsed flight time of more than 8 hours, policy allows for an upgrade to Economy Plus or business class seating

Thank you,

Laurie Jacoby, CTC
Travel Manager
Business Affairs Office
University of Oregon
lajacoby at uoregon.edu<mailto:lajacoby at uoregon.edu>
541-346-3158 - Voice


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