Official Station

​​The purpose of an official station is to establish when you are in travel status and eligible for travel expenses. Travel between your home and official station is considered commuting and is not reimbursed. ​The official station for most SUNY Delhi employees is: SUNY Delhi, 454 Delhi Drive, Delhi, NY 13753. The exception to this is for those employees who are online, offsite, or have been assigned alternate work locations; these employees have been assigned an official station designation appropriately based on the needs of the position and in the best interest of the State.

Travel in Proximity of Official Station or Home

When an employee is assigned to work at an alternate work location which is less than 35 miles from either his or her home or his or her official station, the employee is not considered to be in travel status, but rather is considered to be traveling in the proximity of his or her official station. When traveling in the proximity of home or official station, an employee using a personal vehicle is, as outlined below, entitled to reimbursement of transportation expenses associated with travel:

• from home to an alternate work location
• between the official station and an alternate work location
• between alternate work locations
• from an alternate work location to the employee’s home​

When travel is between an employee’s official station and an alternate work location, or between two or more alternate work locations, transportation expenses must be reimbursed by payment for the actual mileage between such locations, times the IRS mileage reimbursement rate.

Lesser of Mileage Rule

When travel is from an employee’s home to an alternate work location, or from an alternate work location to home, at a minimum, transportation expenses must be reimbursed using the lesser of: 1) mileage between the employee’s home and the alternate work location, or; 2) mileage between the employee’s official station and the alternate work location, times the IRS mileage reimbursement rate. This reimbursement method is called the “lesser of mileage rule.”

Reimbursement within 35 Miles of Official Station

Occasionally employees find themselves attending official work functions such as meetings or conferences that are within 35 miles of their official work station. In addition, these functions may run for multiple days and begin early in the morning or have late evening sessions that make it difficult for employees who are not lodging on site. Therefore, authorized employees will be allowed reimbursement for travel costs (meals, lodging, transportation) when attending functions within 35 miles of their own workstation under the following guidelines:

Required:

• Employee is traveling on official business.
• Supervisor approves the employee's expenses.
• Departmental budget has funds to support the expense.

Justifications:

• Employee is a committee member of the group/organization holding the event and is required to be on site at all times.
• Employee is part of the organizing committee responsible for setting up and running the event and is required to be on site at all times.
• The employee is attending business-related events or meetings that begin before 8 a.m. and/or conclude after 8 p.m.

The expense of meals or lodging within the proximity of the employee’s official station will not normally be reimbursed unless it is in the best interest of the State, as determined by the head of the agency's finance office. Reimbursement for travel in the proximity of the employee’s home or the employee’s official station is subject to the audit of the Comptroller. Transportation costs should not be allowed between any employee's home and his or her official station. On the rare occasion when commuting costs are paid, there are tax consequences associated with the reimbursement.

For additional information, please visit the Guide to Financial Operations Chapter XIII, Section 6.