Payment of business trips

Travel of employees for performing office assignments outside their city is called business trips. Work that has a traveling character can not be recognized as a business trip. The costs associated with such travel must be reimbursed.

The payment of travel expenses provides for reimbursement of funds spent on:

- accommodation;

- travel;

- communication services;

- execution of documents, etc.

In addition, daily subsistence allowance must be paid with the preservation of average earnings (Article 139 TC), in accordance with Government Decision No. 922 of December 24, 2011.

It happens that the saved average earnings turn out to be less than the average salary that an employee could get without leaving the workplace directly. Then some managers pay extra money, guided by actual earnings.

Often on a business trip includes weekends. Here are the options:

- a long business trip (more than a week) and the employee is forced to stay at the place of the service assignment (ie, not returned);

- The employee is sent on weekends, so that, taking into account the road, start the execution of the order from Monday.

The question arises: should I pay travel on weekends?

Consider options when the weekend employees are at the point of travel.

1. It is important to consider whether they were busy with work these days. According to paragraph 9 of the Government Decision No. 749 of October 13, 2008, the average earnings of an employee who was on a business trip, taking into account days spent on the road (and forced stops), should be kept according to the days of work provided for by the schedule. In addition, the employer is obliged to pay for the activities carried out at the weekend in a double amount (Article 153 TC). Guided by the same article, the employee has the right to choose: "walk off" the day off with a payment of a single (not in double), or get a double payment for a "spoiled" weekend.

If the employee, being on a business trip, was involved in work on his weekend (with confirmation in the order), the average earnings will not be preserved, and every day is subject to payment, respectively, art. 153 TC. If the employee was not involved in work on the weekend, then the payment of business trips will not be made.

2. The second option is to leave (or return) on weekends. In practice, such days are often left without payment. The head can allow "to take a walk" them later (and documentarily, such compensatory time offs are usually not drawn up). But it's not right.

These days should also be paid doubly or singly, but with the provision of a separate day for rest afterwards. The rest period is a period when the employee, being free from the performance of his duties, can conduct it at his own discretion (Article 106 of the TC), and the day for rest that coincides with departure (or arrival) can not be used (at least, fully) , Therefore, he must be recognized as a worker.

Here a number of new questions arise: what is to double when the employee receives payment corresponding to the salary? How should the time spent by a person on the road be paid? Is there a double rate on the days of arrival / departure, regardless of the number of hours spent on the journey? Regulatory documents do not regulate this situation, unfortunately.

These questions, perhaps, are more expedient to solve as follows. Accordingly, Art. 132 TC, the salary, among other things, depends on the labor expended. Therefore, if the employee spent, say, only 2.5 hours out of the weekend, then the double daily rate would clearly be too high. And if he returned home on Sunday after 23.00, then, on the contrary, it is understated, since the standard daily earnings are calculated from eight hours, and in this case much more is spent.

Most managers pay for workers on weekends, given the number of hours worked by them. Perhaps, such a payment of business travelers in this situation would be the most reasonable. In any case, each option should be fixed in the local regulatory acts of the organization.