CM-MA-806 Procedure for Business Travel Policy

1. Policy
2. Applicability
3. Responsibility
4. Travel Expense.
5. Living Expenses
6. Business Conferences and Entertainment
7. Authorizations and Approval
8. Spouse Travel
9. Limitations
10. Intercompany Relationships
11. Field Construction
12. Disposition of Remains
13. References

1. Policy

It is the policy of the company to reimburse personnel for actual cost of travel related expenses incurred directly for Business purposes when such expenditures are reasonable and properly repor­ted and approved.  Supporting data for any expenditure shall be obtained and attached to the expense reports, except where fixed allowances have been established for regular travelers.  Personnel shall follow the established procedure of the company for submitting expense reports and for obtaining authorization for travel, ref. 13.1 and 13.2.  All reimbursement for Business travel shall be made through the personal account system or through petty cash.

2. Applicability

This policy applies to Business travel by all personnel.

3. Responsibility

Administrative Supervisors, those having operational and budgetary responsibility for defined organizational units within the company, are responsible for the implementation and administration of this policy.

4. Travel Expense

Personnel will be reimbursed for actual cost of authorized travel.  Travel expenses shall include airplane, rail, local public trans­port, rental automobiles or personal automobiles.  In all cases, the cost for direct routing shall be used for travel from one location to another i.e. site trips to other locations 'en route' or at desti­nation that are not reimbursable.  On trips exceeding 12 hours duration (combination of flight time and lay-over without overnight stay) personnel will be allowed a day of rest time or a day layover 'en route', with reasonable expenses reimbursed.

4.1 Personal Automobile

Personnel will be reimbursed at the rate established by the company when traveling by personal auto­mobile to a job site or other autho­rized location.  Travel by personal automobile will be allowed at the rate of 500 km maximum per day by the most direct route.

4.2 Air Travel

4.2.1 All employees are required to use the lowest obtainable Economy class, wherever available.

4.2.2 An upgrade from Economy to Business class may be made for:

(a)  Employees arriving in, departing from, or flying within the following areas:

• Africa
• Middle East Countries of Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, North Yemen, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria and the United Arab Emirates.
• Asia (excluding Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan).

In those instances, if no Business class accommodation is available on inter-country travel within the Middle East, employees may travel first class.

(b) Employees on long non-stop flights or on long flights requiring stop(s) or transfer(s) when:

• the total scheduled airborne time from origin to destination is more than ten hours and
• the most direct routing is used (circuitous routing to achieve the ten hour requirement is not permitted) and
• the scheduled ground time at any stop does not exceed six hours.

If Business class accommodation is not available employees will use Economy class accommodations.

When circumstances as described in 4.2.2 in (a) or (b) are applicable, the type of accommodation involved and the particular applicable circumstances must be indicated on:

•   the Travel Authorization Form, in the "Class" section.
•   the Expense Report.

Travel by air to and from an assignment location shall be the equivalent of Economy or Tourist class, unless otherwise specifically authorized.

4.2.3 Policy Exceptions

An exception to policy for an upgrade from Economy to Business class may be appropriate under certain Business circumstances.  Requests for an exception on this basis must be made to the General Manager.  An example would be as follows:

• an employee who leaves from The Netherlands at 18:00 hrs for an Eastern destination, travels through the night and arrives at that destination at 07:30 hrs then has a full work schedule immediately upon arrival without having an appropriate rest period until that evening.

When the above circumstances described apply, the type of accommodations used and the reason for such are indicated on:

• the Travel Authorization Form in the "Class" section.
• the approval by the General Manager for exception to policy is required on the Travel Authorization Form.
• the Expense Report.

4.2.4 Reduced Rates

When feasible, travel is scheduled to take advantage of the discount fares offered by most major airlines.

(a)  The traveler uses the prescribed travel services operation at her/his location in order to have access to fare alternatives.

(b) After being advised of the fare alternatives by the location travel service representative, the traveler makes every effort to use the least costly itinerary with due regard to safety and mission.

(c)  Travelers are to book trips as far in advance as possible to take full advantage of discount fares and avoid unnecessary itinerary changes that cancel the special fare considerations.

4.2.5 Fares

When Business class rather than Economy class has been used by any employee, the employee enters the following information on the Expense Report:

(a)  fare incurred for Business class used for flight

(b) economy fare

(c)  difference between both fares.

Also the employee charges on the appropriate Expense Report as follows:

4.3 Rail Travel

Personnel may use first-class when traveling by rail.

4.4 Local Public Transport

Reasonable charges (the normal rate) for local public transport, taxi and bus will be reimbursed.

4.5 Rental Automobiles

Personnel will be reimbursed for the cost of rental automobiles where required or practical. A vehicle type of the general European rental classification "C", or its local equivalent (e.g. class "B" in U.S.A.) shall be used.  Personnel shall use the rental agent designated by the company.

4.6 Tolls and Parking

Reasonable tolls paid during Business travel and reasonable parking charges will be reimbursed (on a net base).

4.7 Insurances

All Company employees and all Company affiliate employees on The Hague payroll are insured against personal accidents on an annual salary basis.

This insurance, which is paid for by Company, provides worldwide coverage and is in force during and outside office hours for 24 hours a day, during off-hours and while traveling between residence and office.

Reimbursement of the cost of personal items lost or damaged during Business travel and at authorized location is subject to the conditions as per paragraph B 15.3 of the conditions of employment (Green Book).

5. Living Expenses

Reimbursement will be made for reasonable living expenses incurred during travel and during the time required for Business-related activities at the authorized location.

5.1 Accommodations

The actual cost of motel or hotel accommodations in the category "medium class" (according to the guide "Michelin", either "very comfortable hotel" or "good average hotel"), will be reimbursed.

Normal tips for baggage handling or maid service will be reimbursed. On visits consisting of more than two nights' stay, normal charges for valet, laundry, or cleaning will be reimbursed.

5.2 Meals

5.2.1 Reimbursement will be made for up to and including three meals per day.

5.2.2 Staff traveling for Business purposes incidentally (i.e. 1 or 2 days in one week) can claim reimbursement of meal expenses when these expenses are actually made.   Proper re­ceipts should be attached to the expense report.  Where no receipts are available an allowance of NLG 17,50 per day will be paid.  This allowance is taxable to the employee.

5.2.3 Inspection and expediting staff, traveling for business purposes on a regular basis, with or without over-night stay(s) in a hotel qualify for:

(a)  reimbursement of breakfast if proper back-up is attached to the expense report(s)

(b) a lunch allowance inclusive of refreshments

(c)  a dinner allowance inclusive of refreshments when returning home after 21:00 hrs.

5.2.4 The applicable fixed daily allowances will be published by the Human Resources Department by separate memorandum.

These allowances shall also be guidelines for the consideration of reason­able expenses for lunch and dinner.

5.3 Telephone and Telegraph

Local and long distance telephone and telegraph costs will be con­sidered reimbursable if they are job-related or are necessary be­cause of the Business trip.  Personal telephone calls, from location to the home of personnel, shall be limited to one per week on an overseas location and two per week on a European location, for maximum 15 minutes duration.

6. Business Conferences and Entertainment

Appropriate expenses for meals or meeting rooms and other directly related expenses for conferences, meetings, Business-related lunch or dinner meetings will be reimbursed.  All persons attending shall be identified.

Business conferences and entertainment with non-Company personnel either at or away from home base and Business conferences among Company personnel away from home base will be reimbursed when in­curred directly for Business purposes.

Business conferences among Company personnel at home base will not be reimbursed unless such meetings are conducted strictly for Busi­ness purposes to discuss company matters.

7. Authorizations and Approval

7.1 Authorization for Travel

Refer to procedure (ref.13.2).

Prior to making a commitment for travel, personnel shall obtain approval on an "authorization for travel" form.

7.2 Approval of Expense Reports

Expense reports containing project related costs shall be signed by the individual, approved by the Project Director/Manager, initialed for ap­proval by the Administrative Supervisor and approved by the Cost Center Mana­ger or his deputy.  Project Manager's expense reports will be approved by the General Manager or his delegate.

Expense reports which do not contain project related costs shall be initialed for approval by the Administrative Supervisor of the individual and approved by the Cost Center Manager or his deputy.  The General Manager or his delegate approves the Expense Reports of those who report to him.

The Manager of Accounting shall ensure, by means of random checks that expense reports are so approved before entering the report into the books of the company.

8. Spouse Travel

8.1 Spouse Travel at Company Expense

Spouses shall not travel at company expense except for purposes which are clearly Business-related. If a person believes an accompanying spouse is required, he must state so clearly on an "authorization for travel" form. Such authorization must be signed by the General Manager for non-project related travel and by the Project Manager for the project related travel. Household expenses incurred as a result of spouse travel shall not be reimbursed.

8.2 Spouse Travel at Employee's Expense

In the event a spouse travels at the employee's expense, the employee's expense report shall not include the cost of spouse's travel, meals, share of hotel room or similar costs.

Special arrangements for spouse travel at the employee's expense may be made such that the costs to the company is limited to what the cost would be if the person traveled alone in accordance with this policy.

Judgment and discretion should be applied as valuable informal Business contacts may be hampered when employees are accompanied by his/her spouse/partner.

9. Limitations

9.1 Policy Exceptions

All exceptions to this policy shall be approved in writing by the General Manager.

9.2 Overtime              Ref. Green Book Section "Overtime"

Work carried out in overtime hours shall not lead to any additional reimbursement for Business travel.

10. Intercompany Relationships

Personnel on short-term assignment shall file expense reports only through their Home Office.  Advances and charges incurred at another Company company shall be invoiced back to the Home Office.

Personnel on long-term assignment shall file expense reports through their office of assignment, and shall give up their credit cards and liquidate their expense account at their original office.

11. Field Construction

This policy is applicable also to field construction, with due observance of the following:

Ref. 7.2 "Approval of Expense Reports"

For field construction approval is required as follows:

Expense reports containing project related costs shall be signed by the individual and approved by the Project Construction Manager and the Project Manager. Project Construction Manager's expense reports shall be approved by the Project Manager, initialed for approval by the Manager Construction.

Expense reports containing non-project related costs shall be approved by the Project Construction Manager and the Manager Construction.

Project Construction Manager's expense reports which contain non-project related costs shall be approved by the Manager Construction and the next higher level of Management.

Expense reports containing assignment conditions related expenses, as are covered in the employee's assignment letter (or foreign assignment agreement), shall be approved by the Project Construction Manager. Project Construction Manager's expense report for these expenses shall be approved by the Manager Construction.

12. Disposition of Remains

In the event of death of an employee or a member of his authorized family while on assignment, all reasonable expenses incurred in the return of the remains and of personal effects to the permanent resi­dence shall be reimbursed, if not recovered from private insurances.

The travel expenses to the permanent residence of the surviving members of the authorized family shall also be reimbursed.

13. References