United States Department of the Interior 

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY 

Washington, DC 20240 

FEB 1 7 2016 

OWF POLICY MEMORANDUM 2016-04 

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT MEMORANDUM 2016-010 (Vol. X.M) 

To: 

From: 

Subject: 

Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs 

Director, Bureau of Land Management 

Director, Fish and Wildlife Service 

Director, National Park Service 

Jim Douglas 

Director 

Office of W. ldland ire 

Reclamation 

Douglas A.Glenn {j_ 1 '- .~ 

Deputy Chief Financial ~:?teer and Director 

Office of Financial Management 

Casual Hire Travel Expense Reimbursement Waiver 

BACKGROUND 

The Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Fish and 

Wildlife Service are responsible for deploying firefighting resources to significant wildfire and 

all-hazard incidents that threaten damage to Federal property, have the potential to cause loss of 

life, serious injury, public health risk, or damage to natural or cultural resources unless brought 

under immediate control. In order to meet this mission requirement, these Department of the 

Interior (DOI) agencies must hire temporary employees, referred to as "casual employees or 

casual hires" (i.e., firefighters), for short periods of time to deploy to these wildfire and allhazard incidents. 

In many instances, the administrative cost of processing travel documents for casual employees 

exceeds the individual travel claim amount. In order to reduce the costs related to creating and 

processing these travel documents, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, 

Management and Budget issued a waiver allowing a subset of casual employees to claim travel 

expenses through payroll payments that are processed with the Optional Form (OF)-288, 

Incident Timekeeping Report. 
Page 2 of 3

TRAVEL REIMBURSEMENT PROCESS

Under the terms of the waiver, casual employees may claim the following travel expenses on the 

OF-288 form:

• Privately Owned Vehicle (POV) mileage;

• Incidental expenses; and 

• Maximum of 15 meals per emergency incident.

If the casual employee incurs a travel expense other than those listed above, the claim for travel 

expenses must be filed in the DOI E-Gov Travel System (ETS). Travel to attend training or 

prescribed fire projects must also be claimed using the ETS. Under no circumstances will a 

casual hire be reimbursed under both the OF-288 form process and ETS for the same travel 

incident. No other DOI employee or invitational traveler is eligible to make claim for travel 

expenses by using the OF-288 form. 

All temporary duty (TDY) travel for casual employees will be governed and processed in 

accordance with General Service Administration (GSA) Federal Travel Regulations and DOI 

TDY Travel Policy. 

Non-compliance with these regulations may result in a bill for collection issued to the casual 

employee.

The Casual Payment Center (CPC) staff will work with each hiring location to ensure the casual 

employee’s pay on the OF-288 is not delayed pending travel reimbursement. When a casual 

employee’s travel includes expenses that cannot be claimed on the OF-288 form (e.g., lodging or 

other travel expenses), the claim must be made in the DOI ETS. The CPC will ensure that travel 

expenses are removed from the OF-288 and will process the casual employee’s payroll only. 

The DOI ETS must be used for the following travel expense claims:

• Lodging paid by casual employee;

• Rental vehicle leased by casual employee;

• All training and non-emergency related travel that can be planned and authorized in 

advance (e.g., prescribed fire projects and training);

• Other expenses not allowed for reimbursement via the OF-288 (e.g., baggage fees,

laundry costs, cab fare, etc.); and

• Any expense not listed previously as an expense that is allowed for claim on an OF-288 

form.

When a casual employee has travel expenses that require a claim be made in DOI ETS, a copy of 

the casual employee’s OF-288, along with supporting documents and receipts, is required to be 

uploaded onto the ETS travel voucher for the period of travel. This documentation requirement 

will help control the risk of duplicate payment of travel expenses.
Page 3 of 3

INCIDENT MANAGEMENT TEAM - FINANCE 

Each DOI casual employee will be given a copy of their OF-288 incident timesheet when they 

are released from the incident for which they were hired. Their hiring unit will determine travel 

reimbursement and, if appropriate, submit to the CPC for processing.

DOI CASUAL PAYMENT CENTER 

The CPC staff will verify that qualifying travel claims submitted on OF-288 forms follow DOI 

and GSA guidelines. The CPC staff will validate, as accurate, the allowable per diem rate and 

mileage rate claim on each form and process the OF-288 for payment. Payments will be posted 

to the following pay codes:

• TRV - to budget object class 211E for per diem (incidental and meals); and

• CMN - budget object class 211P for POV mileage. 

If there are questions regarding the travel reimbursement or if there are travel expenses that are 

not allowed for reimbursement through the OF-288 submission process, the CPC staff will 

contact the approving official (AO) at the hiring unit and delay processing the OF-288 until it has 

been corrected to remove any errors.

DOI CASUAL EMPLOYEE TRAVEL PAYMENT MONITORING 

Monitoring plans will be implemented and performed at the hiring unit, CPC, Bureau and 

Department levels. The monitoring plan shall require the AO to identify which method of 

reimbursement is appropriate for casual employee travel expenses (through the ETS or OF-288). 

As part of the batch approval process, the AO will certify that the OF-288s are accurate, 

appropriate, and legal for payment. 

Bureaus will ensure that casual employee travel claims submitted on the OF-288 form are valid 

and only represent allowed travel expenses. The Financial and Business Management System, 

CPC, and Federal Personnel Payroll System records should be used to facilitate this monitoring 

process. 

If you have any questions regarding to this memorandum, please contact Robert Smith at 

(202) 208-6584 or via e-mail at Robert_Smith@ios.doi.gov.

cc: Bureau Finance Officers

 Bureau Relocation Leads

Interior Fire Executives

 Interior Fire Directors