District of Columbia Administrative Code

GROUND TRANSPORTATION (a) Ground transportation subject to reimbursement includes heavy rail (such as Amtrak, MARC, and Virginia Railway Express) and intercity bus service (see § 4007), as well as public transit systems (including subway, bus, and light rail), taxis, ride-hailing…

HEAVY RAIL AND INTERCITY BUS 4007.1 If heavy rail or intercity bus service is approved by an agency as a mode of employee travel, an agency shall pay for, and an employee shall only be reimbursed for, the cost of the lowest-price coach class heavy rail (for example, Amtrak) or in…

GOVERNMENT AND RENTAL VEHICLES A government or rental vehicle may be authorized as a means of transportation to the travel destination and as a means of transportation while at the destination. Whenever practical, a government vehicle shall be used for ground travel to and from t…

EMPLOYEE VEHICLES An employee may use his or her personal vehicle for official government business only when authorized by the employing agency. An agency shall approve the use of an employee’s personal vehicle only when use of a common carrier, government vehicle, or rental vehi…

RESPONSIBILITY FOR TICKETS 4010.1 An employee shall be responsible for paying tickets for any moving or non-moving infractions, such as speeding tickets and parking tickets. SOURCE: Final Rulemaking published at 67 DCR 7860 (June 26, 2020). District of Columbia Municipal Regulati…

AIR TRAVEL 4011.1 (a) If air travel is approved by an agency as a mode of employee travel, an agency shall only pay for, and an employee shall only be reimbursed for, the cost of the lowest-price basic coach class airfare that reasonably meets the travel needs of the employee, un…

LODGING EXPENSES The District government shall provide reimbursement for lodging expenses when an employee is traveling for government-related purposes for more than twelve (12) hours, if the lodging expenses are authorized by the agency and are consistent with the requirements o…

4013 LIMITATIONS ON LODGING EXPENSES 4013.1 The District will generally provide reimbursement only for the lowest available lodging rate at the travel destination. (a) To determine and obtain the lowest available lodging rate, the employee shall: (1) Use at least one (1) major ho…

4014 MEALS AND INCIDENTAL EXPENSES 4014.1 The District shall provide reimbursement for authorized meal and incidental expenses when an employee is on approved travel for government-related purposes for more than twelve (12) hours. 4014.2 (a) Meal and incidental expenses may be re…

MEAL AND INCIDENTAL EXPENSES; PER DIEM RATES When meal and incidental expenses are authorized to be reimbursed on a per diem basis: For destinations within the United States, the per diem meals and incidental expense rates that an employee may be paid shall be the rate establishe…

MISCELLANEOUS EXPENSES The District shall provide reimbursement for miscellaneous expenses related to approved government travel when an employee is on government travel for more than twelve (12) hours, subject to the limitations set forth in this section and chapter. The followi…

AGENCY APPROVAL Travel approvals shall be processed as follows: The employee requesting travel authorization shall submit the approval form to his or her immediate supervisor; The supervisor shall review and certify whether the requested travel benefits the agency; The supervisor…

ADVANCE PAYMENT OF EXPENSES Whenever possible, an agency shall pay for travel expenses with the agency’s purchase card or through a requisition. When the purchase of travel expenses cannot reasonably be made using the agency’s purchase card or a requisition, an employee may be pr…

REIMBURSEMENT OF EXPENSES An employee shall be reimbursed for approved and eligible travel expenses. Employees shall seek reimbursement for such expenses using a travel expense reimbursement form issued by the personnel authority. Completed forms, along with appropriate documenta…

DISPUTES AS TO REIMBURSABLE EXPENSES An agency may disallow payment of an expense included on a travel expense reimbursement form if: The employee does not provide proper itemization of an expense; The employee does not provide a receipt or other documentation required to support…

RECONCILIATION OF EXPENSES AGAINST AN ADVANCE If an employee received a travel advance, the employee must file a travel expense reimbursement form even if the employee is not seeking reimbursement above the advance amount, in order to reconcile actual expenditures against the adv…

CANCELLATION AND CURTAILMENT OF TRAVEL If authorized travel is cancelled: The employee shall immediately notify the travel officer of this fact and submit a refund of any monies advanced in connection with the authorized travel. Advances that are not refunded within three (3) bus…

AGENCY POLICIES AND PROCEDURES Each agency may implement agency-specific travel approval procedures to supplement this chapter, as long as the procedures are not inconsistent with these regulations. However, only the personnel authority may develop approved forms. No agency may i…

PROGRAM MANAGEMENT The Department of Human Resources shall be responsible for implementing the rules and requirements of this chapter, including: Promulgating forms, instructions, and guidance documents and posting such forms, instructions, and guidance documents on the internet …

FREQUENT TRAVELER BENEFITS An employee may use frequent traveler benefits earned on official travel for the employee’s personal use. However, an employee shall not select a travel provider based on whether it provides frequent traveler benefits. SOURCE: Final Rulemaking published…

TRANSPORTATION: AUTHORIZED POINTS OF ORIGINATION AND RETURN The authorized points of origination and return for an employee’s travel shall be the employee’s place of work, unless the authorizing official approves another point of origination or return based on a determination tha…

4027 EMERGENCY TRAVEL Emergency travel is travel that interrupts authorized travel as a result of: An employee becoming incapacitated by illness or injury not due to his or her own misconduct; The death or serious illness of a member of an employee’s family; or A catastrophic occ…

4028 TRAVEL EXPENSES FOR EMPLOYEES WITH SPECIAL NEEDS 4028.1 To be reimbursed, additional travel expenses for employees with special needs must be approved by the agency. 4028.2 Expenses that may be approved by an agency include: Services of an attendant to accommodate a special …

4029 RESPONSIBILITY FOR ARRANGING FOR TRAVEL AND PURCHASING TRANSPORTATION AND LODGING 4029.1 An employee shall be responsible for identifying his or her own transportation and for identifying reservations for his or her own lodging, unless the employee’s agency has designated it…

INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL In addition to the other requirements of this chapter, travel to a destination outside the United States shall be subject to approval by the City Administrator and the Mayor’s Chief of Staff. Employees, other than employees of offices and agencies that report…

LOCAL TRAVEL The District may provide reimbursement for government-related local travel. As used in this section, local travel means government-related travel within fifty (50) miles of the John A. Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20004. Each agen…

4032 LOCAL TRAVEL: APPROVAL OF LOCAL TRAVEL AND LOCAL TRAVEL EXPENSES Local travel expenses shall be approved by the agency’s authorizing official or his or her designee. 4032.2 An agency’s authorizing official may delegate to supervisory personnel in the agency the authority to …

4033 LOCAL TRAVEL: TRANSPORTATION 4033.1 An agency may pay for or reimburse the transportation expenses of local travel. 4033.2 In authorizing local travel transportation expenses, the agency shall require that the employee travel by bus or subway, unless: The travel origination …

4034 LOCAL TRAVEL: REIMBURSEMENT OF LOCAL TRAVEL EXPENSES 4034.1 In order to be reimbursed for local travel expenses, an employee shall submit a completed local travel expense reimbursement form to the agency travel officer no later than ten (10) business days after the travel ex…

4035 LOCAL TRAVEL: GOVERNMENT-OWNED VEHICLE EXPENSES 4035.1 Authorized users of District government vehicles shall obtain necessary gas, oil, maintenance, and repairs from a District government facility and will only be reimbursed for out of pocket expenses (gas, oil, repairs, an…

4099 DEFINITIONS 4099.1 When used in this chapter, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings ascribed: Agency – an office, department, board, commission or other entity within the District government, except any entity that possesses independent personnel authority …

500 GENERAL PROVISIONS 500.1 The District of Columbia Public Employee Relations Board (“Board”) was established in 1979 by § 501(a) of the Comprehensive Merit Personnel Act of 1978, effective March 3, 1979 (D.C. Law 2-139; D.C. Official Code § 1-605.01(a) (2016 Repl.)) (“CMPA”), …

501 COMPUTATION AND EXTENSIONS OF TIME 501.1 When an act is required or allowed to be done within a specified time by these rules, the Board, Chair, or the Executive Director may, upon timely request, order the time period extended or reduced to effectuate the purposes of the CMP…

502 FILING AND SERVICE OF PLEADINGS 502.1 All pleadings filed with the Board must be filed electronically through File & ServeXpress, pursuant to § 561, except those filed by a pro se party. All pleadings must include the following: (a) The title of the proceeding (for example, u…

503 EXCLUSIVE RECOGNITION AND NONCOMPENSATION UNIT DETERMINATION 503.1 A labor organization seeking exclusive recognition as the representative for an appropriate unit may file a “recognition petition.” The recognition petition must include the following: (a) A description of the…

504 COMPENSATION UNIT DETERMINATION 504.1 An agency, a labor organization, or a group of labor organizations may file a “petition for compensation unit determination” seeking determination of an appropriate unit for the purpose of negotiations for compensation. 504.2 The Board ma…

505 MODIFICATION OF UNITS 505.1 A petition for unit modification of either a compensation or non-compensation unit may be filed by a labor organization or by a labor organization and an agency jointly. A unit modification may be sought for any of the following purposes: (a) To re…

506 CLARIFICATION OF UNITS 506.1 A petition filed for clarification of an existing unit may be filed by the agency or by the exclusive representative of the unit. The petition must include the following: (a) A description of the existing unit; (b) A copy of the documentation evid…

507 DECERTIFICATION PETITIONS 507.1 The purpose of a decertification proceeding is to determine whether a majority of the employees in a bargaining unit maintain their desire to be represented by the existing exclusive bargaining representative. 507.2 A petition to decertify an e…

509 RESERVED SOURCE: Final Rulemaking published at 37 DCR 5267 (August 10, 1990).

510 ELECTION PROCEDURES: GENERAL 510.1 Representation elections will be conducted by the Board or by an impartial body selected by the mutual agreement of the parties. The parties to a representation election must inform the Board as to whether they have selected by mutual agreem…

511 ELECTION PROCEDURES: ELIGIBILITY 511.1 To be eligible to vote in an election, an employee must have been employed in the bargaining unit during the pay period before the date on which the Board ordered the election or as otherwise determined by the Board or consented to by th…

512 ELECTION PROCEDURES: ON-SITE ELECTIONS 512.1 The procedures set forth in this section apply to an election conducted on-site, unless otherwise agreed to by the parties and approved by the Board. 512.2 The agent of the Board or other impartial body must designate the areas in …

513 ELECTION PROCEDURES: MAIL BALLOTS 513.1 Taking into consideration the desires of the parties, the Executive Director may direct an election to be conducted by mail when the schedules, shifts, or work sites of employees prevent them from being present at a common location at c…

514 ELECTION PROCEDURES: TALLYING 514.1 Representation will be determined by the majority of the valid ballots cast. Each party may designate representative(s) to observe the tallying of the ballots. Ballots must be tallied in the presence of the parties’ observers. The count mus…

515 CERTIFICATION OF ELECTION RESULTS 515.1 The Executive Director must prepare a report of election results that includes a tally of the ballots. The Executive Director must serve the report on each party, attaching a certificate of service. 515.2 No later than seven (7) days af…

516 PETITIONS TO AMEND CERTIFICATION 516.1 An exclusive representative may file a petition with the Board to amend its certification when there is a change in the identity of the exclusive representative that does not raise a question concerning representation (e.g., whether the …

517 RESERVED SOURCE: Final Rulemaking published at 37 DCR 5267 (August 10, 1990).

518 RESERVED SOURCE: Final Rulemaking published at 37 DCR 5267 (August 10, 1990).

519 RESERVED SOURCE: Final Rulemaking published at 37 DCR 5267 (August 10, 1990).