Instruction outlines new requirements for time and effort, domestic travel approval

Effective at 5 p.m., March 28, time and effort (T&E) attendance and domestic travel expenses must be approved electronically by a University of California "regular" employee with approval authority who is an SSM-3 or higher, or a TSM.

The changes to the new approval requirements are outlined in Director's Instruction 05-006, and in a master-management memo last Friday.

The instruction requires that T&E attendance and domestic travel expenses be approved by a group-level manager or above, and allows a manager to delegate electronic approval authority to someone else, provided the designee has a job classification of SSM-3 or above, or TSM. The instruction modifies Administrative Manual section 324 as well as Laboratory Domestic Travel Regulations.

"The director's instruction improves Laboratory business processes by enhancing internal controls and providing an appropriate level of accountability for T&E and travel," said Henrietta Trujillo of Accounting (CFO-1). "These improvements address weaknesses found in audits and eliminate the need to maintain hard-copy documentation of T&E approvals, which can be easily lost or misplaced."

Even though approval of domestic travel will occur by way of electronic signature of an appropriate approving authority, employees still must submit a signed expense worksheet and original receipts to the Laboratory Travel Office in order to be reimbursed for domestic travel expenses.

When the new requirements go into effect, the Laboratory Electronic Authorization System (EAS) will delete any authorities to approve T&E or domestic travel that had been delegated previously to people who do not qualify under the new instruction. Those individuals will receive an electronic notification informing them of the change. Trujillo said managers must assign new authorities to qualified employees on or before March 28, the effective date of the Director's Instruction, so those individuals will have authority to approve T&E and travel beginning March 29.

Lab employees with questions about the new policy requirements can contact the Laboratory Payroll or Travel offices at 7-4594 or 7-4314, respectively, or by sending electronic mail to payroll@lanl.gov or travel@lanl.gov. For questions about assigning authorities, refer to http://im-2.lanl.gov/eia/authassign.shtml online or call the EI consultants at 5-4444, and select option 2.

--James E. Rickman

Other Headlines