§ 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.)