IM AP 2025-01 Personal Time During Official Travel

A.  Personal Time/Personal Days.  Personal time/personal days refer to leave an employee/traveler takes during travel (as well as weekends and Federal holidays that occur at the start or end of the period of work time), not including the time required for traveling to and from the TDY location.  Personal days do not qualify for payment of per diem.  For example, if a traveler wishes to extend a trip (at the beginning or end of the trip) to avoid traveling on a weekend or holiday, those weekend days or holidays would be considered personal days and would be subject to provisions in this policy and to supervisory approval.

B.  Temporary Duty (TDY) Location.  TDY refers to a place away from an employee’s official station where the employee is authorized to travel.

C.  Temporary Duty (TDY) Travel Time.  TDY travel time refers to travel days, working days, and weekends or local holidays that occur within the span of working days, as well as one outbound rest period when permitted.  TDY days qualify for payment of per diem.  Office of Personnel Management (OPM) guidance about travel that is considered hours of work is available at: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/work-schedules/fact-sheets/hours-of-work-for-travel/

D.  Rest Period.  For information on this topic, refer to the Federal Travel Regulation 41 CFR 301-11.20.

E.  Work time/working days.  Work time/working days refers to a TDY day during which official work duties will be performed. 

4.    Policy.  Limited amounts of personal time while on official travel may be authorized per traveler.  Although there is a general policy permitting limited personal time while traveling, approval of any such time is at the supervisor’s discretion so long as the time is within the restrictions listed below.  USGS employees may be required to travel on weekends or holidays to meet mission objectives.  Employees should work with their supervisor to determine the appropriate coding in Quicktime for official time spent traveling.  Information about hours of work as travel is available at: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/work-schedules/fact-sheets/hours-of-work-for-travel/.  Information about travel compensatory time is available at: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/pay-administration/fact-sheets/compensatory-time-off-for-travel/.  USGS employees are not protected by worker’s compensation regulations or covered by the Federal Tort Claims Act during personal days while on travel.

A.  General Requirements.

(1)  Personal time must be clearly incidental to the official travel.  Supervisor approval is required.

(2)  The number of personal days requested must be at least 1 day less than the total number of TDY travel days and no more than 7 days total.

(3)  Any extension of official travel for personal reasons must not increase the cost to the government for the official travel.  Any additional costs incurred in conjunction with the use of personal time must be borne by the employee (refer to additional requirements below).  Upon completion of any official travel involving personal time, the traveler must attach documentation to the travel voucher showing that no additional costs were incurred and (or) a cost comparison to claim reimbursement for official travel only.  The Government charge card must not be used for any personal travel expenses.

(4)  For international travel, all days of travel (both TDY and personal) must be reported on the Foreign Travel Form (DI-1175).

(5)  A personal passport must be used for any international travel on personal time. The full international travel itinerary must be sent to the appropriate Branch of International Science Support (BISS) Travel Specialist in the Office of International Programs for embassy notification and to the IT Service Desk at servicedesk@usgs.gov if taking Government-Furnished Equipment (GFE).  DOI policy does not permit the use of GFE while on personal international travel.

(6)  Supervisors may set more restrictive requirements for their organizational unit.

B.  Requirements for Travel Itineraries and Costs Impacted by Use of Personal Time During Travel.

(1)  If an employee is traveling to an official TDY location and stays at that TDY location for personal time and (or) plans to return to the original approved TDY location for the return flight home, the traveler is responsible for documenting what the airfare would have been if no extra personal time/days were claimed (for example, providing a screen shot from ConcurGov or itinerary from the Travel Management Center (TMC) for the supervisor).  Documentation must support that no additional cost was incurred; any excess travel should be booked separately or follow the guidance below.

(2)  If a traveler wishes to include personal travel in conjunction with official travel to a different destination than the approved official TDY location and return home from the non-TDY destination, the traveler (or arranger) must contact the TMC (currently Duluth/El Sol at 1-855-847-6398) to complete the travel reservations.  Instructions are available at: https://d9-wret.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/magma/production/s3fs-public/media/files/personal-conjunction-with-official-8-2022.pdf.

(3)  The traveler must tell the agent what the itinerary would be for official business travel only and then the desired itinerary to include personal travel.  The agent will calculate the difference in cost and charge any overage on a personal credit card plus any applicable fees.  The Government must only be charged for the official business portion of the travel.