FEA continues working to help the many members who are experiencing delays and errors with their RAT orders this year due to DoDEA management’s unwillingness to heed our warnings long ago that more staff and more training were needed to avoid such problems.
FEA President Brian Chance has assisted hundreds of members by contacting Resource Management on their behalf to seek solutions to their RAT issues. FEA members who haven’t received their travel orders within two weeks of their requested travel date are once again urged to reach out to President Chance at [email protected] for assistance. We are appreciative of the effort put forth by Resource Management to work through these issues, many of which could have been avoided had DoDEA planned better.
For months leading up to the end-of-year travel season, FEA urged DoDEA to hire additional staff and improve training for those who handle travel requests. DoDEA ignored our warnings. There are signs DoDEA is learning from the present debacle and will seek increased staffing and training next year, but those efforts are no comfort to employees experiencing problems now due to management’s short sightedness.
DoDEA has told employees the Collective Bargaining Agreement between FEA and DoDEA for the Overseas unit prohibits self procurement of tickets. The fact is, self procurement is not addressed in the contract and the issue of self procurement remains unsettled, as FEA disagrees with DoDEA’s opposition to the practice. Employees are being instructed to use the DoD Travel Office, not because our Contract specifies it, but because the DOD Joint Travel Regulations designate that as the office to use. The JTR also gives the agency the latitude to authorize self-procure tickets – the Association maintains that DoDEA has not maximized its authority to permit educators to use this option. This option would have reduced the crushing workload that the agency is experiencing.
A recent issue we are hearing of involves the $25 amount listed for taxis on most travel orders. In response to President Chance’s inquiries, the Resource Management Office has issued the following information:
“The $25 taxi expense is a place holder. Some people will take a taxi and some people won’t. We put the place holder in the authorization and on the voucher side we either increase to the actual amount paid or remove it if not used.
“If you use a taxi to get to the airport, please save your receipts and submit them with your voucher upon your return. If the receipt is in foreign currency, you can either provide a copy of your bank statement showing the exact USD amount, or we can convert it using the standard OANDA website for the date of the expense.
“Taxis are authorized to/from the airport at the PDS and at your final destination, either the HoR or your authorized alternate.”
FEA will continue working for members to seek resolution of travel issues this year and will work with Resource Management and DoDEA for improvements in the system for next year and beyond. Members encountering delays receiving orders or dealing with errors in their orders should continue to contact President Chance. And all members are urged to keep good records of their travels and let us know next fall if you experience problems vouchering for your travel after the return to school. FEA will remain focused on this issue.
