§ 1261. Personal expenses when away from home

(a) Unless otherwise provided, all persons in the employ of the State when away from home and office on official duties shall be reimbursed for expenses necessarily incurred for travel, subsistence, postage, telephone, telegraph, express, and incidentals, which shall be paid out of the biennial appropriation made for the support of their respective departments. Nothing contained in this section shall authorize payment to an administrative official or employee, except the Governor, for travel between the person‘s place of residence and office, or subsistence at that place except for mileage reimbursement when an employee is called in and required to work at any time other than continuously into the employee’s normally scheduled shift. Compensation for subsistence, travel, and other expenses occurring while conducting business for the State shall be the subject of collective bargaining as defined in 3 V.S.A. § 904(a). Whenever it shall be necessary to effect the transfer of an employee of the State from one official station to another by direction of the head of a department, the employee shall be reimbursed for the employee’s reasonable and necessary moving expenses actually incurred. However, the reasonableness of the expense shall be determined by the Commissioner of Human Resources and no expense shall be allowed unless the transfer is made for the convenience of the State and in no event where it is effected for the convenience or at the request of the employee. The expense, when allowed, shall be paid out of the biennial appropriation made for the support of the respective departments. When an administrative official or employee works out of the official’s or employee’s home in the usual course of employment rather than out of an office, the official or employee shall be reimbursed for expenses in the same manner as though the official or employee were working out of an office, and for the purposes of this section, the official’s or employee’s home shall be considered as the official’s or employee’s office.

(b) The Secretary of Administration shall prescribe standards to limit reimbursement for personal expenses and to require approval of specific exceptions prior to the date of travel. These standards shall apply equally to all categories of State employees, subject to the collective bargaining agreement.

(c) Nothing in this section shall be taken to limit the authority of the Commissioner of Public Safety to approve reimbursement for personal expenses in accordance with 20 V.S.A. § 1881. (Amended 1959, No. 161, § 1, eff. July 1, 1960; 1959, No. 328 (Adj. Sess.), § 8(c); 1961, No. 214, eff. July 11, 1961; 1975, No. 85; 1961, No. 86, § 2, eff. April 28, 1975; 1977, No. 109, § 31, eff. July 1, 1979; 1981, No. 249 (Adj. Sess.), § 27, eff. May 4, 1982; 1983, No. 195 (Adj. Sess.), § 5(b); 1987, No. 243 (Adj. Sess.), § 68, eff. June 13, 1988; 1995, No. 123 (Adj. Sess.), § 8, eff. June 6, 1996; 2003, No. 156 (Adj. Sess.), § 15; 2007, No. 7, § 7; 2015, No. 172 (Adj. Sess.), § E.108.2, eff. June 8, 2016; 2021, No. 105 (Adj. Sess.), § 483, eff. July 1, 2022.)