Mileage Reimbursement

[Guest myvettee]

I currently have an employee enrolled in the health care flexible spending accounts. Employee has a child born with a heart defect. Last year employee applied for Medical Assistance and it was granted. Employee asked today if she can submit the mileage she drove to and from a doctor's visit last week. My question is, can employee submit for reimbursement mileage for her son who is completely covered through Medical Assistance? She has no EOB or any type of statement verifying her visit. Only the speedometer readings. Thanks again in advance for all your help.

[Joe Priselac]

Are you questioning whether the visits actually occurred or if the medically related travel expense is elligible? The mileage is a permitted expense. Is this woman getting reimbursed by Medicaid for her travel costs? If not, then why would you question the travel costs? If my HMO fully covers all my medical expenses, I can still submit my medically related travel expenses to the health FSA. Where the employee gets her medical coverage should not matter.

[Guest myvettee]

I'm not questioning whether the mileage is an eligible expense. My only concern was the mileage eligibility vs. the total reimbursement by Medical Assistance. As it stands, employee will request reimbursement through her Health Care Flexible Spending Account vs. requesting it from MA. Thank you for your clarification in this matter.

[SLuskin]

The only problem with reimbursing mileage in a medical FSA is the requirement that the third party provider of the service provide a statement showing the date, nature of the service and the cost.

[Guest K.A. Brown]

My question is regarding company reimbursed expenses. My company reimburses employees' out of pocket expenses for company related expenses. They do not issue company credit cards and all expenses must therefore be place on personal credit cards. They also do not issue expense advances.

Recently the company has been faced with some rather serious financial setbacks. In order to (frankly) hang onto their cash, they have set some rather stringent policies -- including one regarding reimbursement.

Expense reports must now be turned in within five days after the end of the previous month. Not working days -- just five days total. If an employee is on vacation or ill and the report is not in - the employee will NOT be reimbursed. If the supervisor fails to sign and return the report in a timely manner and the result is the report is late-- Again the employee will not be reimbursed.

My question is: Is five days a reasonable amount of time? And can a company actually refuse to reimburse an employee for expenses incurred on behalf of the company? Is this legal or illegal in New York State...and if so, under what conditions. Thank you for your assistance in this matter.