Employees may be reimbursed for miles driven for library business, if certain requirements are met. However, mileage to and from your assigned workplace and your home will not be reimbursed. This policy limits reimbursable miles to the miles driven in excess of the number of miles involved in the individual’s daily commute (round trip) for work. The reimbursement rate is the current standard federal rate for business expenses.

If you are required to attend work related activities, you may be eligible for mileage reimbursement. Reimbursement is subject to supervisor approval and limited to the budgeted funds provided for your department/location.

Some examples include, but are not limited to:

• Metropolitan Library Commission meetings or committee meetings where your attendance is requested or required by your supervisor.
• MLS meetings and local library or job-related meetings where your attendance is requested or required by your supervisor. Supervisor approved workshops and seminars that you are pre-approved to attend.
• Employees requested to return to work by their supervisor to handle an emergency after they have left for the day.

The following activities are not eligible for mileage reimbursement:

• Staff Association board and committee meetings
• Staff Development day.
• Retirement & related receptions
• Work at a temporary location for one or more full days.
• Mileage incurred to make purchases or run errands when other options are available.

All out-of-county conferences requiring an overnight stay must be pre-approved via the Travel Expense Request form.  All other mileage must be submitted and approved using the Mileage Reimbursement form.

Reimbursable mileage should be calculated as the actual miles driven for library business, in excess of an employee’s daily commute.  This calculation applies even in cases where the individual does not normally drive to the primary work location: e.g., the individual typically uses public transit for the round-trip commute.

Determining the numbers of reimbursable miles:

1. Use the provided mileage library locations reference chart, attached to the Mileage Reimbursement form, to calculate miles between library locations.
2. If the number of miles is not available from the provided mileage chart  an accurate web-based map should be used.  The employee must clearly show that the mileage requested is in addition to his/her normal commute.
3. Using your current address that is on file with the library (this should be the same every time a reimbursement form is completed, unless you change what is on file), calculate your daily commute to and from your permanently assigned work location.  Calculate the number of miles that are driven on behalf of the library system that are in addition to the number of miles for your normal daily commute.
   
   1. Example: Joe generally drives 11 miles to and from his usual work site in downtown Oklahoma City for a normal round-trip commute of 22 miles. Today, however, Joe needs to drive from his home to the Edmond to attend an early morning meeting. After the meeting, he continues to his primary work location where he completes his workday and then drives home. As a result, today Joe drives 35 miles – from home to Edmond to his office and back to his home. Joe can request reimbursement for 13 miles today. This represents the number of miles that he drove in excess of his usual round trip commute (35 – 22 = 13).
   2. Example: Vance drives to his normal work location in Midwest City on Monday morning, leaves to attend a required function in Bethany, and returns to the library. He can request reimbursement only for those miles driven in excess of his normal commute, in this case, the drive to Bethany and back.
   3. Example: Marnie usually drives 14 miles round trip to her work site at the Service Center. Her normal work schedule is Monday through Friday. On Sunday evening she drives 27 miles to the Will Rogers World Airport to catch her flight to an out-of-state conference. Marnie can request reimbursement for all 27 miles driven this day, since it is not a normal workday and she is not going to her normal work site.  This mileage is to be reported with her other travel expenses on the Travel Expense Request Form, prepared and approved in advance.

To request a reimbursement, submit the appropriate, completed mileage reimbursement form to the Business Office. The reimbursement request must include a detailed description of the Library operational need for travel/mileage.  It is the supervisor’s responsibility to verify the attendance and accuracy of the mileage claimed and their signature indicates verification. The employee is responsible for the authenticity and the accuracy of the mileage on this request. His/her signature indicates validity.

All requests should be submitted quarterly and received in the Business Office as soon as possible after the last day of the quarter, but no later than the last day of the following month.

To be eligible for reimbursement the employee must comply with all traffic laws and MLS safety procedures and must attach to their reimbursement request a copy of their current verification of insurance which meets the minimum requirements for the State of Oklahoma.