______________________________ January 21, 1998 ______________________________ GSBCA 14418-TRAV In the Matter of CHARLES A. SMITH Charles A. Smith, Chelmsford, MA, Claimant. T. J. Heavyside, Director, Accounting Support, Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Indianapolis Center, Indianapolis, IN, appearing for Department of Defense. DeGRAFF, Board Judge. When an employee is incapacitated by an illness while on temporary duty travel, the employing agency will reimburse the employee for transportation expenses to the employee s permanent duty station. For civilian employees of the Department of Defense, such transportation expenses can include the transportation costs of a medically necessary attendant. Background In April 1997, Charles A. Smith, a civilian employee of the Department of the Army, was incapacitated by cardiac arrest while on temporary duty in Maryland. Mr. Smith s supervisor immediately contacted his family and issued travel orders to Mr. Smith s wife, authorizing her to travel from her home in Massachusetts to Maryland. The travel orders stated that the Army would reimburse Mrs. Smith for her transportation costs and would pay her a per diem allowance. Mrs. Smith traveled to Maryland, as did two of Mr. Smith s sons and one son-in-law. Fortunately, Mr. Smith survived. In the opinion of his doctor, however, it was necessary for medical reasons that someone accompany Mr. Smith from Maryland to Massachusetts in order to ensure his safety during the trip. Mrs. Smith accompanied her husband on the trip home. Mr. Smith s sons and son-in-law had returned to Massachusetts a few days earlier. Mr. Smith submitted a claim for the costs of transportation, lodging, telephone calls, and car rental in Maryland incurred by his wife, and for the costs of transportation and lodging incurred by his sons and son-in-law. Although the Army initially rejected the claim, the Army was not aware at that time that Mr. Smith s doctor considered it necessary for someone to accompany Mr. Smith on his trip home to Massachusetts. After the doctor provided the Army with a letter stating that Mr. Smith needed to be accompanied by an attendant, the Army determined that it would reimburse Mr. Smith for his wife s transportation costs (air fare, mileage for travel to and from the airports, and tolls), but not for any of the other costs she incurred, and not for any of the costs incurred by Mr. Smith s sons and son-in-law. Mr. Smith asks us to review the Army s decision. Discussion The statute applicable to Mr. Smith s claim provides that an employee who suffers an incapacitating illness while on temporary duty travel is entitled to be reimbursed for expenses of transportation to the employee s designated post of duty, or home and to be paid a per diem allowance or subsistence expenses until the employee reaches that location. 5 U.S.C. 5702(b)(1)(A) (1994). The purpose of the statute is to overcome in some measure inequities and hardships arising when an employee becomes ill or is injured while in a travel status and compelled to personally assume all expenses including subsistence and transportation costs. S. Rep. No. 1364, 81st Cong., 2d Sess. 1- 2 (1950). The relevant Federal Travel Regulation (FTR), which implements the statute, and the Joint Travel Regulations (JTR), which apply to civilian employees of the Department of Defense, provide that when an employee suffers an incapacitating illness while on temporary duty travel, expenses of appropriate transportation and per diem while en route shall be allowed for return travel to the official station. 41 CFR 301-12.5(b) (1996); JTR C6454-B.1 (Nov. 1, 1996). According to the JTR, appropriate transportation expenses include the transportation costs of an attendant to accompany an employee if a doctor certifies that the attendant is medically necessary. The JTR explain that the attendant s transportation costs can include round-trip transportation between the permanent duty station and the temporary duty station, and state that no per diem allowance will be paid for an attendant. JTR C6454-B.2 (Nov. 1, 1996). We agree with the Army that it should reimburse Mr. Smith for the transportation costs incurred by his wife. Because Mr. Smith suffered an incapacitating illness while on temporary duty travel, the statute, the FTR, and the JTR allow the Army to reimburse him for transportation expenses from Maryland to Massachusetts. The Department of Defense has determined that appropriate transportation expenses include the transportation costs of a medically necessary attendant, and this determination is consistent with both the statute and the FTR. See Robert L. Leith, B-169917 (July 13, 1970); Manley W. Allen, B-127109 (Apr. 6, 1956). In the opinion of Mr. Smith s doctor, it was medically necessary for someone to accompany him to Massachusetts, and Mrs. Smith traveled with Mr. Smith as his attendant. Thus, as the Army decided, Mrs. Smith s transportation costs are clearly reimbursable according to the applicable regulations. We also agree with the Army that it should not reimburse Mr. Smith for the costs of lodging, telephone calls, and car rental incurred by his wife. Costs of lodging can be reimbursed as part of a per diem allowance, and the FTR and the JTR provide for the payment of a per diem allowance to an employee on temporary duty who is incapacitated due to illness. The Army, however, cannot reimburse Mr. Smith for his wife s lodging as part of his per diem allowance because his per diem allowance is available to cover only expenses that he incurred. 41 CFR 301- 7.6(b)(1), 301-7.9(c). The Army cannot pay Mrs. Smith a per diem allowance of her own because the JTR specifically provides that no per diem allowance will be paid for a medically necessary attendant. The fact that Mrs. Smith s travel orders said that she would receive a per diem allowance does not require the Army to pay such an allowance because the orders were contrary to the regulations, and the erroneous advice of an Army employee does not obligate the Army to expend money contrary to its regulations. Federal Crop Insurance Corp. v. Merrill, 332 U.S. 380 (1947). The cost of telephone calls is reimbursable if the calls were for official business. 41 CFR 301-6.4. Based upon the facts available to us, we cannot determine the purpose of Mrs. Smith's calls. If any of her calls were for official business, the Army can reimburse Mr. Smith for those calls. In certain circumstances, employees can be reimbursed for renting cars, but neither the FTR nor the JTR provides for reimbursing an employee for the cost of a car that is rented by someone else and used for local transportation when the employee is at a temporary duty station and is incapacitated due to illness. 41 CFR 301- 2.4, 301-12.5; JTR C6454. Because there is no authority for reimbursing Mr. Smith for the costs of his wife s lodging and car rental, the Army should not reimburse Mr. Smith for these costs. Finally, we agree with the Army that it should not reimburse Mr. Smith for the costs incurred by his sons and son-in-law in traveling to and from Maryland. There is no statute or regulation which authorizes the payment of such costs. Neither Mr. Smith s sons nor his son-in-law accompanied him when he returned to Massachusetts and even if they had, the JTR does not permit an agency to reimburse an employee for the transportation costs of more than one attendant as part of an employee s transportation expenses. In summary, the Army should reimburse Mr. Smith for his wife s transportation costs and for any telephone calls made for official business, and should not reimburse him for the other expenses he claims. _______________________________ MARTHA H. DeGRAFF Board Judge