Overtime Meals and Mileage

References: DPA Regulations 599.622, 599.623, and 599.626; SAM 0728 and 0731; and Bargaining Unit Contracts.

Overtime Meals

An employee may claim an overtime meal when he or she is required to work before or after a regularly scheduled workday and cannot be expected to return home for a meal. The amount allowed for an overtime meal is the actual expense not to exceed the maximums prescribed in the bargaining unit contracts and Department of Personnel Administration Regulations.

To be eligible for an overtime meal allowance on a holiday or regular day off, an employee must work the total number of hours in his or her regular work shift plus two additional hours. For example, if the regular work shift is eight hours, the employee must work ten hours to qualify for an overtime meal; if the regular work shift is nine hours, the employee must work eleven hours to qualify; etc.

An additional overtime meal may be claimed for each additional six-hour period. Time taken for the meal including travel to and from the eating place or establishment will not be considered as overtime.

Meals or meal tickets provided to employees on the employer's premises and furnished in an emergency situation for the convenience of the employer do not constitute overtime meal compensation.

A represented employee may not claim reimbursement for an overtime meal or be furnished a meal free of charge if claiming per diem (DPA 599.622).

Time Requirements for Overtime Meals

The time requirements for overtime meals are as follows:

Bargaining Unit Or Group	Hours Required Over Regular Work Schedule	Reimbursement
1	2 hours contiguous	Up to $8.00
2	2 hours consecutive	Up to $8.00
4	2 hours contiguous	Up to $8.00
7	2 hours consecutive	Up to $7.50
9	2 hours consecutive	Up to $8.00
10	2 hours consecutive	Up to $7.50
11	2 hours contiguous	Up to $8.00
12	2 hours contiguous	Up to $6.00
13	2 hours contiguous	Up to $5.00
14	2 hours contiguous	Up to $8.00
15	2 hours contiguous	Up to $8.00
21, other than WWG2		$0.00
21 WWG2	2 hours consecutive	Up to $8.00
Non-Represented WWG2	2 hours consecutive	Up to $8.00
Arduous Meals Non-Represented, other than WWG2	On rare occasions when an employee is required to physically or mentally work 10 hours or more (not including breaks for meals) for an extended period of time, the employee, with approval of the appointing authority, may claim the actual cost of an arduous work meal.	Up to $8.00

Contiguous: A total of two (2) hours either before and/or after extending the regularly scheduled workday, e.g. one (1) hour before and one (1) hour after the workday.

Consecutive: Either two (2) hours before or two (2) hours after the regularly scheduled workday.

All overtime and arduous meal reimbursement is reportable and taxable. See Tax Withholding and Reporting Requirements for rates.

Call-Back Mileage (formerly Overtime Mileage)

Employees may claim private vehicle mileage to and from their work locations when:

Such expenses are incurred by a call-back to work necessitating more than one trip to the work location on a normal work day. *
By reason of any call-back or pre-scheduled work on an employee's normal day off. *

* BU 12 Represented Only -

When a BU 12 employee receives a call to work which results in an additional commute during the workweek, the employee shall be reimbursed for travel mileage, to and from the report location, in accordance with applicable Contract provisions and/or rules. Such mileage shall not exceed a total of fifty (50) miles for each call back.
When a BU12 employee is working "scheduled overtime" on their day off, they are entitled to the full miles traveled and are not limited to the 50 mile limit.

All call back mileage reimbursement is taxable. See Tax Withholding and Reporting Requirements for rates.

Reimbursement Claims

To claim reimbursement for an overtime meal and/or overtime or call-back mileage, the employee should submit a travel expense claim, Form FA0302.

Overtime meals should be charged to object 023 and overtime and call-back mileage should be charged to object 110.

Travel expense claims should be submitted to the Division of Accounting's Travel Payments Section at:

Inter-office mail: Mail Station 25.
U.S. mail: PO Box 168018, Sacramento, CA 95816-8018.
Overnight courier: Available at District cashiering offices.

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