Per Diem Rates

Ensuring employees are reimbursed for all expenses incurred in performing their job duties gets complicated, especially when employees travel. Per diem rates help employers establish reasonable reimbursement rates.

For California employees, the Department of Personnel Administration has useful guidance on its Web site .

For federal employees, the General Services Administration provides this information. The Internal Revenue Service also provides useful information.

Comments

[Nicole]

Hello,

I have a question in regards to California Per Diem Law and Meals and Incidentals.

If an employee is traveling over 50 miles from their homes would they be eligible for daily per-diem? (Meals and Incidentals)

Our Corporate office is based out of TN and we are trying to explain California Per-Diem law to them and they do not understand. Do you have supporting documents to prove the above statement?

I really appreciate your help.

Kindest regards,

Nicole

[Chris Eddy]

Nicole,

There is no direct answer for your question. Remember, Preferred and Executive members of CalChamber have unlimited access to the Helpline - a team of consultants that may not only save you thousands of dollars in attorney fees, but could protect your business from expensive fines due to noncompliance.

[Miriam Quehl]

Hello - not sure how to start a "new subject" - but I have a question regarding 3/27/09 ALERT article "Employee no Longer Exempt If Pay Cut When Reducing Work Time"
At our company, every employee must take a one week furlough this month (all California offices), we hope this will not need to happen again... Non-exempt employees were given the choice of 5 consecutive days or spreading those 40 hours over the month. Exempt employees were told they must take one full week (our understanding was this is the only way you can furlough Exempt employees). Dale Louton's article touches on one item I need to clarify:
1- Salary Test ($2774/mo) During the furlough month we can and should switch employees back and forth from exempt to non-exempt if furlough brings their salary below $2,774/mo - is this correct?
2- Regarding Exempt/non-exempt classifications: We have sales people on "base + commission" pay. Some base pays are below the $2,774 mark - ideally with good sales they will make well above $2,774 - but what if they do not? Do we re-classify retroactively? How does this salary rule apply to sales personnel? Would it be safer to reclassify all as 100% commission with a mid-month draw (we are paid bi-weekly) to help them with their cash-flow? We have some sales personnel classified this way already.

Hope you can shed some light

MiriamQ

[Chris Eddy]

CalChamber Members can call our Labor Law Helpline to receive guidance on issues such as this.

[Sheilah Stewart]

Ms. Hawthorne:

We are trying to track down an entry to the HR watchdog that should have appeared in December 2008, concerning new pamphlets on Workers Compensation Rights and Pamphlets for new hires. We can't find the entry on the HR watchdog - can you help? We are trying to ensure our pamphlet is compliant. Thank you.

[Chris Eddy]

Preferred and Executive members of CalChamber have unlimited access to the Helpline - a team of consultants that help you with your questions.
https://www.calbizcentral.com/HRC/QandA/Helpline/Pages/default.aspx