Meals Without Overnight Stay

[tknight84]

My company is working on some revisions to our travel policy and one of the topics we are discussing is meals during travel. Our current policy states that meal reimbursement or meals paid with the corporate credit card are only allowed in the case of overnight travel. There is some concern about this, so I was wondering if anyone would be able to share information regarding their policies on travel meals. I know that some companies will reimburse or allow meals when the travel exceeds a certain distance away from home or the office, so I'd like to get some feedback on that if possible. 

[KevinD]

@tknight84 would you mind sharing what the concern is with overnight stays and meal reimbursement? That might help people better understand and provide their insight. 

[tknight84]

We have many employees who drive to a location a couple hours away from home to work and then return home that same day. These are typically regional managers or maintenance staff who are based out of their homes but have to drive to various properties throughout the week. Management is concerned that there may be abuse with employees charging meals that typically wouldn't be covered for employees who don't work from home. For example, on-site property managers and corporate staff are expected to pack or purchase a lunch, but a regional manager who is driving to a property for the day to do an inspection and returns home that night is seeking reimbursement for breakfast and lunch or charging it to their corporate card. Should those meals be covered by the company, or do we only pay for meals if the employee is required to spend the night away from home? 

[Nancyagfa]

Our Service per diem is set up that they can only charge meals on days that have overnight stays, as they are away from home.  Otherwise, all employees working at offices would be submitting meals, which is not the policy.

[aknudsen]

Our policy doesn't limit meals to overnight travel, but it specifically states that there must be a business purpose to the meal, such as a new employee welcome lunch or peer networking. The situation you describe above would not be covered.