Employee Seeking Fuel Reimbursement for Long Commute: How Should We Handle This?

All employees of our plant are picked up from home and dropped off by company-hired vehicles. One of the employees has their own house located at a considerable distance and is not receiving the pick-up and drop-off facility. Now, he wants reimbursement for fuel expenses from the company as he attends his duty using his own vehicle. Please advise.

Regards,
Pawan

When a policy or plan is implemented, try not to deviate from it. Consistent and fair administration should be the way. Once you start to make exceptions, it sets a precedent for more future deviation, thus causing misalignment of the original objective of having such policies and plans. You need to communicate this not only to that particular employee but also continuously to the rest of the employees for enforcement.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Autumn Jane

As the employee wants the facility, but the local management denies giving him the pickup and drop facility due to the distance, please suggest whether he should claim reimbursement or not.

Regards,
Pawan

Sticking to policies is good, but at the same time, being fair and equal to all employees is important. If the cab facility is an additional benefit for other employees, you can try to find a middle ground for employees not on the route where the cab facility is provided. Whatever the cost per head for each employee coming in the company cab, an equivalent amount can be reimbursed to employees not staying on the route as a fuel expense. This can be adopted in policy foreseeing a high number of exceptions. The final decision is what management calls for, as it is not statutorily binding.

Regards,
Swati

Pawan, your latest query is not clear. If your company's policy does not cover distance after a certain limit, then you need to stick to the same. I am sure the employee joined your organization knowing this detail, and you informed him of the same. If he knew it, then he can't morally ask for any other reimbursement as they are not part of his employment. Making such exceptions is unfair to other employees.

Company Policy on Reimbursement

Now, my reply to the more idealistic replies as to whether the company should make an exception: in that case, there cannot be a limit to it. In a perfect, Utopian world, it might be possible. But in this case, there is no need to do the same.

Alternative Solutions

As a side note, as a retaining policy, you can give him a special allowance to meet travel expenses. It can be a fixed amount and not on actuals. But the resulting increase in CTC and financial burden has to be considered.

Regards.

In my opinion, why should the employee be deprived of the pick-up/drop-off facility only because they are staying far away? The company should have considered all the flaws before finalizing the policy. If the employee is attending duty regularly and on time, they should be compensated by way of reimbursement, a fixed allowance, or an increase in CTC, whichever means are mutually acceptable.

As per your company policy, if the employees have that as a facility and the policy does mention the kilometers where the facility will be provided, then the employee cannot claim the same. However, if the management is saying that they would not provide the same because he is the only person from that area and the bus expenses will be extra, then you need to compensate him by paying him a fixed sum towards fuel reimbursement. The company policy should be fair to all. Ultimately, the company management has the final say.

Regards,
Ashutosh Thakre

You need to relook at the company policy to find a suitable clause addressing the limit for providing the cab. If there is no such limit in the policy, then you should have extended the cab facility to the employee as there is no ground to deny the facility.

Policy Revision and Communication

In case the management feels that it would not be cost-effective to extend the cab facility after a certain distance, then management should revise the policy and inform all beneficiaries. The employee should be extended the cab facility to the nearest pickup point from his place. Alternatively, a special allowance should be introduced for these specific employees to cover the traveling expenses. All fresh hires should be informed in advance about any restrictions on the cab facility.

Regards