Career Path > Money Matters

Per Diem & Travel Pay

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NC Bound:
I am currently in line for a position with a large Company whose plan is to hire me as a interim employee.  They will be paying me a wage and when I am working at various sites around the country they will be paying me per diem.  I have been a contractor in the nuclear field for many years collecting per diem during outages and for jobs lasting <1 year.  But I have not worked for a Company who will be paying per diem only when I am at a job site.  This is not an issue for the jobs that occur during the first year but how does it work if I know that I will be working for the same Company for more than a year but still getting per diem only when I am at the job sites?  I don't know if I am making a big deal out of nothing or not.  When I am not working at a job site they will furlough me until my next assignment.

illegalsmile:
As long as the assignments they send you on are <1yr, no problem. You'll just do what you always did.

rlbinc:
If any one job assignment keeps you in one location in excess of 1 year, then all per diem paid by that employer is retroactively taxable.

If they keep you moving and your location changes at least once per year, there is no deadline for tax free per diem.

Per Diem is location dependent. The amounts vary by location. GSA has a rate schedule at
http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/contentView.do?contentId=17943&contentType=GSA_BASIC

You can exceed these rates, but then you should document expenses with receipts.

worker1:
Can someone give me some advice. I have been working for a while now and the company that I work for is saying that I dont rate per diem anymore because of a dirt road, through a forest.  By them claiming that the shortest distance for me to travel is taking this road it takes me away from the per diem minimum distance. can I debate this?

hamsamich:
You can debate it but there is no requirement for a company to pay you per diem at all.  It is up to them based on their policies.  Per diem is tax free reimbursement companies pay you because nobody local can/will do the job.  Companies that take away workers per diem risk losing non-local workers, but if they can get away with not paying per diem they will.  If you were promised per diem and they took it away from you unfairly you could push the issue with upper management but it is not a law.  It is basically like a justified pay-cut.  At some places the people who do the pay will work with you and actually drive the route to be sure what you are saying is true.  It depends upon the real reason they took it away; they may be trying to trim the budget or maybe they have enough workers so they can afford to take a chance by cutting your per diem based on flimsy circumstance.  For sure push the issue, but don't think they are required to give it to you.  If it is a fairly run company and they made a mistake you could get it back.

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