Travel Claim with Driving

[shogun506]

I'm being posted and am driving 2800km to get to my new unit. With regard to the rule about driving only 500km/day, does anyone have any idea how strict ORs are with this rule? Ie; if I drive 700km one day and 300 the next or just skip a day completely and arrive a day early, is anything going to be denied on my claim?  My understanding from talking to people is that it's an insurance thing to cover themselves, hell the clerk even told me I should stay an extra day in Chicago so it's probably not that uncommon, but I don't want any problems when I show up to the new unit. Has anyone done this?

 

[WestCoaster]

I've never had a problem driving more than 500km/day.  Heck, I don't think I've done less than 600/day during my moves because we would try to plan it out so that we could have a day or two of visiting relatives along the way. I'm pretty sure they just use that figure to calculate how many days you require to make the trip and don't really audit where you actually stay and how many km you drove (in my experience anyways...).

 

[George Wallace]

I'm being posted and am driving 2800km to get to my new unit. With regard to the rule about driving only 500km/day, does anyone have any idea how strict ORs are with this rule? Ie; if I drive 700km one day and 300 the next or just skip a day completely and arrive a day early, is anything going to be denied on my claim?  My understanding from talking to people is that it's an insurance thing to cover themselves, hell the clerk even told me I should stay an extra day in Chicago so it's probably not that uncommon, but I don't want any problems when I show up to the new unit. Has anyone done this?

The 500 km/day is a number that they have used to calculate how many days they should allot to you for travel.  That is all.  It is not a directive that you can only drive that number of km. 

 

[the 48th regulator]

The 500/km/day is in the CFTDIs and no doubt is there for liability.  If you get into an accident, and it is found you did not follow the directive, the onus will be on you and you will not be covered, I would safely assume.

Click on the link for the latest copy of the CFTDI .

dileas

tess

 

[DAA]

I'm being posted and am driving 2800km to get to my new unit. With regard to the rule about driving only 500km/day, does anyone have any idea how strict ORs are with this rule? Ie; if I drive 700km one day and 300 the next or just skip a day completely and arrive a day early, is anything going to be denied on my claim?  My understanding from talking to people is that it's an insurance thing to cover themselves, hell the clerk even told me I should stay an extra day in Chicago so it's probably not that uncommon, but I don't want any problems when I show up to the new unit. Has anyone done this?

Please read Article 6.09 (Travel by PMV) of the CFIRP Manual, it will answer your question.  This is not a "rule" it is merely a guide to calculating benefits.

Travel time is calculated based on the distance/mileage to be travelled (ie; in increments of 500km for relocation).  Therefore, Brookefield will provide you with "authorized" travel days, which constitutes the maximum reimburseable entitlement (ie; 2,800km = 6 days TT).  If you decide to arrive "earlier" than the forecasted time then your benefits cease.  "When CF members arrive at destination in advance of the authorized travel days, TNL ceases on the date of arrival at destination."

CFTDI's do not apply.  Stick with your relocation guide.

 

[Griffon]

Just to add to that, the CFTDI only states that the Approving Authority shall not require the member to travel more than 500 kms per day; it doesn't say anything about being restricted to that distance.  Personally, I've never had a problem with travelling over 500 kms per day when travelling for a posting.  I even claimed a 3 day day stop along the way on one posting.  There shouldn't be a problem at the destination OR at all, at least I've never heard of one.

 

[Occam]

Just to reiterate what DAA said - CFTDIs =/= CFIRP.

CFTDIs govern TD; CFIRP governs relocations.  And never the twain shall meet.

 

[Griffon]

Sorry for the confusion, I was addressing two different comments in the same post.

 

[Lumber]

According to CFTDTIs:

1. “7.20(3) (Home Outside Place of Duty) In this Section, for the purposes of calculating a direct road distance from a member’s home, a home that is located outside the member’s place of duty is deemed to be located at the nearest point to the member’s home on the geographical boundary of that place of duty.”

2. And according to CMP, the geographical boundaries of places of duty for Hamilton can be found here:

http://cmp-cpm.mil.ca/en/benefits/geographical-boundaries.page (DWAN, sorry)

Therefore, technically, people living outside of our geographical boundaries are only entitled to travel costs calculated starting at the geographic point determined above. Working at a reserve unit, we have a LOT of people who live outside of our geographic boundaries.

So, let’s say we are sending several members away on a weekend tasking. We have arranged flights and a shuttle from our unit to the airport. All they have to do is get to the unit, by PMV or Taxi.

Now, let’s say one of the members lives outside of our geographic boundaries (let’s say 45km away and the geographic boundary starts at 30km away from the unit). If this member decided to drive to the unit to catch the shuttle, he would only be eligible for reimbursement of the 30km. Correct? This is easy to calculate with the kilometerage rate, but what if he took a taxi?

Or am I reading this all wrong, because I have a feeling that no one really does this...

 

[dapaterson]

You also need to look at CBI 209.045 - 209.045 - Transportation Assistance for Reserve Force Personnel on Class A Reserve Service (http://www.forces.gc.ca/en/about-policies-standards-benefits/ch-209-transportation-expenses.page#sec-209-04)

Generally, what I have seen in a situation such as the one you describe would have the individual get Transportation Assistance to and from the unit.  Never seen a taxi in such a situation, but I'm guessing that if you're asking the question...

 

[Lumber]

You also need to look at CBI 209.045 - 209.045 - Transportation Assistance for Reserve Force Personnel on Class A Reserve Service (http://www.forces.gc.ca/en/about-policies-standards-benefits/ch-209-transportation-expenses.page#sec-209-04)

Generally, what I have seen in a situation such as the one you describe would have the individual get Transportation Assistance to and from the unit.  Never seen a taxi in such a situation, but I'm guessing that if you're asking the question...

I always assumed that pertained specifically to Admin and/or Trg night, but re-reading it I see now you can apply it to ANY situation where they are employed on Class A service, including weekend/weeklong taskings.

 

[CountDC]

Same thing as CFTDI also states you can not get TD benefits for travel to your regular work site.  We paid RTAA for the mbr to get to work and then the TD starts from there.

 

[Lumber]

Same thing as CFTDI also states you can not get TD benefits for travel to your regular work site.  We paid RTAA for the mbr to get to work and then the TD starts from there.

That just seems like unnecessary extra red tape.

 

[CountDC]

That just seems like unnecessary extra red tape.

yep but we don't write the policies, only voice our opinions and find a way to make it work at least for the reservist until the next change/policy clarification.  As regular force I can't even get the benefit of the RTAA.