Debts and deadlines and headaches oh my

March 7, 2015 5:20 PM

I am a professor at a public (state) university. I have a research account that I use for trips to conferences. I often have to pay things like hotels out of pocket and then submit receipts and paperwork to get reimbursed. It is often difficult to do this because the website for the paperwork is hard to use, so I put it off. Also, I was trying to get a car service to send me a receipt and thought I'd send all my receipts at once. In short, I screwed up and did not file the paperwork on time for an expensive trip. I was given an email notice a couple of months ago. Then yesterday Friday at almost 5 pm i got a notice saying March 9 is the 90th day and so nothing would be repaid then. I wrote the travel office and said I would get it in Monday. They said no. I quickly emailed them an expensive hotel receipt. They did not respond or process it. This seems to be a rule made by the travel office at my university within the last few years.

My question:
Is it legal for them to refuse to pay me back personally from my own research account after a certain deadline they have made?
Can I pursue this?
This is anonymous so I can't respond to clarify so I will just say now,I KNOW I missed the deadline. I know that.
What i want to know is if it is legal for them to not honor my personal reimbursement because of the deadline they made, as far as I can tell, to simplify their own paperwork at some point over the last few years? Is this deadline legal?
So in a sense I am asking: can the entity who owes money say "I will not pay you back after a certain amount of time that I have determined" within a few months? Because in effect, the university gets to keep the money if they don't pay me back for my expenditure.
Or does the fact that it is all taking place within an institution *makes* it legal in a way that it would not work outside those rules?
Thanks.

posted by anonymous to Work & Money (23 answers total)

Bring the receipts in on Monday, ontop of a batch of homemade cookies.
posted by Sophont at 5:29 PM on March 7, 2015 [2 favorites]

A couple things come to mind, including "what state are you in?" and "it's not March 9 yet". Why not just submit stuff today before the deadline?
posted by ryanrs at 5:30 PM on March 7, 2015 [1 favorite]

well monday is March 9 so if you submit by monday, you haven't missed the deadline.
posted by sabh at 5:33 PM on March 7, 2015 [5 favorites]

You may want to check the details of whatever funding went into that research account; the legal details may have come from there.
posted by tchemgrrl at 5:34 PM on March 7, 2015

I've worked at three universities and two private companies with similar policies, so my guess is that it's legal. You should be able to use leftover money for another trip however rather than letting the university keep it, assuming this money comes from a university indirect rate payback.
posted by metasarah at 5:35 PM on March 7, 2015 [2 favorites]

Can I pursue this?

Posit that this behavior is illegal. What are you going to do about it? Sue your employer (the state)? I hope not. You would end up in a protracted legal battle, and I suspect that (if you are tenure-track) your tenure appraisals will start to go negative or (if you are tenured) your institution support will start to disappear. You ask very specific questions about legalities; the problem is that in general it doesn't matter if an employer behavior is legal or not, it only matters if you are going to do something about it. A behavior that's not legal does not magically stop happening just because it is not legal.

So, you need to posit that this behavior is legal. In this case, you need to request an exception, which means you need to be nice to the people you deal with, not confrontational. In other words, you should be going for Sophont's suggestion rather than a lawsuit. These are people you will have to deal with in the future. It'll pay (literally) to be nice to them. Now's as good a time as any. An apology generally works better than a lawsuit, regardless of whether you are legally right or wrong.

Also, you need to request reimbursement quicker. Consider this a lesson - one that the rest of the world has to deal with just like you do.
posted by saeculorum at 5:45 PM on March 7, 2015 [9 favorites]

If you need advice, I suggest you find the Department Secretary - or whatever the title now - there's usually someone who's been quietly running the department for years - that person is the one to ask. That secretary knows exactly how to process your travel expenses and trip receipts in order to get them all reimbursed. Seriously. IF such a person still exists in your department, that is. If not, there's probably someone off in a corner who knows how to "work" the system to make it happen - it's all about finding the right person.


(It's hard to get what I'm trying to say said and remain politically correct because it was 35 years ago when I was a Dept Sec at the University of Arizona and we wrote proposals on a typewriter, hand copied thirty or sixty copies, collated and stapled them by hand and rushed them to the post office to be postmarked by the deadline. The material was gathered and organized and written initially by the faculty members - the postdocs or whoever was looking for the funding, then it was hashed over by the secretary (if she'd been doing it long enough to know what she was doing) - or the technical writer/typist who had been hired for their professional writing skills. Then it was rewritten at least once and then, at last, hammered out and sent in on time. But in today's world - what do they call that person? I don't think anyone would answer to the term "secretary" now, would they? I had volumes of detailed rules and specifics for submitting articles for publication to this journal or that one - every one was a bit different - and likewise for proposals and all the rest. I had at least six full-time PhDs who expected me to keep their entire world rotating - that's what a Dept Sec did then - but I don't know what the title would be now and it's very possible that there are plenty of men doing the same job today, so using the pronoun "she" could be causing bad feelings also. I don't know what else to do except apologize for my cluelessness, which I do, but if you need help, find that person and you'll get it.)

(copied this from a previous thread here because it's another perfect example of what that mystery person in the department knows that no one else does)
posted by aryma at 5:48 PM on March 7, 2015 [4 favorites]

I work at a state university, maybe not your state university. It is quite legal to set a deadline for reimbursement since it is applicable to all state employees. Another reason why you file quickly is so that your reimbursement is not taxed when it is given back to you in payroll.

Are you on good terms with the department or college office manager? Basically, the person who knows the processes, and people to create frictionless transactions. They may have the social capital with Finance to smooth the way for you so you may want to bring them in as your advocate, soon. You may have to go to your chair or even the dean advocating with Finance, but it should not have to take that level. Legal suits maybe not as beneficial as you hope against your school.

Apologize profusely, send in your documentation via email immediately with a promise to get the hardcopy to them on Monday. Make it easy for them to say, "yes", to you. Get all the paperwork in order; submit it and bring in the smoother. Do not, I repeat, do not threaten or pull rank on anyone.
posted by jadepearl at 5:59 PM on March 7, 2015 [2 favorites]

I'm a university admin. It sounds like you're stuck: as an employee of the university, you agree to follow the travel policies when you travel, and I bet that this is written in that policy. (FYI: A lot of businesses have a 90 day rule, because the IRS says reimbursements can be reported as taxable income after 90 days. Then it becomes a huge hassle to all involved.) However, you submitted the expensive receipt on Friday, before the deadline. It shouldn't matter if it's processed before then, it should just matter that you got it in. You need to read the travel policy word for word-- I bet it will back you up on this case. It will also clarify if you have 90 days to submit (which would allow submissions on Monday).

One thing to be aware of: you call the account "own research account". If it's a discretionary account, it's university funding ear marked for you, but it has rules and regulations and can easily be taken away. If it's start up funding, it belongs to you a bit more-- but it still has rules and policies that you must follow. And if it's a grant or cooperative agreement, it's not yours at all-- it is made out to the university with you serving as PI. I've seen universities switch out PIs in extreme cases.

Good luck with all this. I would recommend aryma's suggestion of talking to your departmental admin.
posted by veryhappyheidi at 6:01 PM on March 7, 2015 [9 favorites]

Does the money in the research account come from grants that you are bringing into the university? I'm not sure it 100% matters, but if that is the case, it certainly makes your argument stronger (in the sense that it is money brought in directly by your research).

Before you jump to thinking about legal action, figure out what routes you can work within the system to get it done. You may have to escalate this situation (i.e., ask to work with the supervisor of the travel dept, ask to talk to the supervisor's boss, etc.) to find someone who has the authority to override the deadline. This is definitely a "catch more bees with honey" situation, but do not make cookies. That's weird and inappropriate.
posted by jeoc at 6:05 PM on March 7, 2015

I know you can't clarify, but why can't you submit it this weekend? Is there some reason the website is not available to you, hard to use or not? You may have to eat the car service expense if you don't have the receipt, but the rest should be fair game if you get it in before Monday.
posted by cecic at 6:23 PM on March 7, 2015 [4 favorites]

I may have missed it, but is there any reason you can't fill everything out this weekend? Is the system not available over the weekend? If it is, I would do it in the next couple of days. If not, I think your best course of action is to fill out all the proper documentation now, scan everything you need to send in, and then send it to the email over the weekend of the person who insisted that you meet the deadline. You can quibble about the method later, but if you made an effort to have it in-hand on time in light of the limitations of the system, you can at least have that piece in your favor if you need to ask for an exception to the normal rule.
posted by SpacemanStix at 6:24 PM on March 7, 2015 [1 favorite]

I just saw cecic's post, and pretty much that. I will add that it's worth seeing what the policy is for losing a receipt, also. Rarely are people out the money, and it's often possible to create your own receipt for temporary processing in-house before you can get an official one in hand.
posted by SpacemanStix at 6:26 PM on March 7, 2015

Then yesterday Friday at almost 5 pm i got a notice saying March 9 is the 90th day and so nothing would be repaid then. I wrote the travel office and said I would get it in Monday. They said no. I quickly emailed them an expensive hotel receipt. They did not respond or process it.

I would say that by sending you an email very near the close of business on March 6 saying that the deadline is March 9, they have put themselves in a position where they must accept anything you submit over the weekend, because otherwise their email is essentially 'ha ha sucker! too late!'-- and if that's what they meant, aren't they obliged to say so?

The only reasonable construction of that email is that it's your final warning, and a warning necessarily entails a possibility of heeding the warning and staving off undesirable consequences.
posted by jamjam at 6:33 PM on March 7, 2015 [3 favorites]

At my college/university, after the deadline, that money goes back into the account to pay for other peoples trips and expenses. There are no exceptions to the deadline, which is actually less generous than yours and fully spelled out in faculty governance documents. It's not illegal, and going forward you should not postpone if you would like to be reimbursed.
posted by Riverine at 7:45 PM on March 7, 2015 [1 favorite]

I would say that by sending you an email very near the close of business on March 6 saying that the deadline is March 9, they have put themselves in a position where they must accept anything you submit over the weekend, because otherwise their email is essentially 'ha ha sucker! too late!'-- and if that's what they meant, aren't they obliged to say so?

I would proceed from this interpretation and ask them to at least reimburse you for that one bill you immediately fired off. But in a friendly, "There's some type of misunderstanding" way. Go to whoever administers this and maybe you can also get help for some of the other bills. But if the balance of what you are on the hook for is not enough to cause real hardship, I'd say let it go in the interest of picking your battles and saving big favors for when you need them.
posted by BibiRose at 8:04 PM on March 7, 2015

Hi. My job is processing travel reimbursements at a large state university.

Is it legal for them to refuse to pay me back personally from my own research account after a certain deadline they have made?

Yes.

Can I pursue this?

Legally? Sure. You will get nowhere. A travel reimbursement is not a debt the university owes you. It is a favor they will do for you if you follow their rules.
posted by lefty lucky cat at 11:23 PM on March 7, 2015 [7 favorites]

Pursue this with your department chair and Dean. It is not credible that items submitted over the weekend or on Monday are not reimbursable. Do not take the staff person's word for it.
posted by deadweightloss at 5:07 AM on March 8, 2015

I agree with this. In any bureaucratic organization, there are numerous people who are authorized to say no. You need to find out who is authorized to say yes.
posted by megatherium at 5:11 AM on March 8, 2015

Likely not a dean or department chair. You need accounts payable bureaucracy on your side. Likely you have a department administrator to whom you submit. That person sends on the claim to accounts payable, which is where the deadline is imposed.

This situation (speaking as a former chair who had to deal with this a few times) is very common because academics are space shots about money. It's quite legal. But usually there is a workaround even if you agree to receive it as taxable income. If your dept administrator throws up her/his hands, make a very polite and contrite approach to A/P directly.

Gonna guess OP has tenure because untenured folks are usually too broke to forget reimbursements for three months. If you have tenure, you can be a jerk about it if you want but it probably won't help. As any academic should know, never, ever yell at a secretary.

The other inside baseball solution is to give up but then find a work reason to take a very nice vacation-like trip somewhere you'd want to go for yourself, or buy a really nice piece of gear and submit for the equivalent reimbursement for that.
posted by spitbull at 5:55 AM on March 8, 2015 [1 favorite]

For the future, here is an app that has made this process much easier for me: CamScan. You photograph your receipts and the app turns the photo into a PDF you can email. I do this as I receive the receipts, or at worst, I do it in the airport while I'm waiting for the flight home. No more lost receipts. When I'm back home, all my receipts are waiting in my email inbox. Just having all the receipts ready and waiting makes dealing with the clunky travel reimbursement website less painful.

As for your current situation, I spent many years dealing with university administrators, and unless you have a visa problem, there is always a work around. You must be very, very nice and very, very patient. Homemade cookies might be a nice gesture after someone has fixed your problem, but not before, and only in the Midwest. In California, wine. On the East Coast, flowers, especially in the winter.
posted by islandeady at 10:03 AM on March 8, 2015 [2 favorites]

FYI, if you routinely file late, as your question implies, the people who process reimbursements almost certainly have you on a mental list titled something like "Problem Children" or "Pains in the Neck". You've quite likely already used up any benefit-of-the-doubt or willingness-to-go-above-and-beyond feelings they may have had.

Everybody hates preparing reimbursements. Everybody hates tracking down receipts and getting all the numbers lined up. Everybody hates having to pull up the travel policy to justify why a particular expense is reimbursable (protip: figure out which justifications you use regularly — "per G79 section 2.A.ii, mileage from home is reimbursable under the following circumstances: [list circumstances], which this meets" — and save them in a document for easy re-use). Everybody hates the entire damn process.

DO IT ANYWAY. The day after you get back from a trip, prepare your reimbursement paperwork. Turn it in within a week. Be nice to the administrative staff when you do.

A university is a massive bureaucratic engine. Unless your title is something like Regent or Chancellor, you have to deal with the same administrative requirements as everybody else.
posted by Lexica at 1:29 PM on March 8, 2015

It seems like the timeline to this is that you got an email letting you know that Monday March 9th was the final day. And so:

I wrote the travel office and said I would get it in Monday. They said no.

They said no to Monday, but did you say anything about BEFORE Monday as in over the weekend?

I quickly emailed them an expensive hotel receipt. They did not respond or process it.

I don't think you can read anything into them not responding to this email. After all, it sounds like you sent this to them after 5 pm on a Friday. Even if someone happened to see it, I could easily imagine no one wanting to bother responding before Monday. The good news is that since you emailed it to them, you have proof of date and time.

In your position, I would sit down right now and fill out all the paperwork and submit it online through whatever website is required, and make sure you get a screen shot or something with date/time. Even better, send that screen shot to them before midnight tonight if you're not literally emailing them the paperwork. When contacting them, you should be polite, friendly, and not remotely adversarial.

Of course, if we're all missing something here, you might want to send an update via the mods, because I really don't understand why you're jumping to issues of legality when it sounds like you can still salvage this situation. That's without even getting into what saeculorum already wisely addressed upthread: Even if it were illegal for them to have this deadline, there's pretty much no universe in which it would make sense to pursue this from a legal perspective. Would you want to jeopardize your job because you procrastinated on submitting receipts for more than 90 days after multiple warnings?

(I'm not trying to judge or shame you, by the way. I'm absolutely the worst when it comes to procrastinating about doing even the most trivial task, so I sympathize.)
posted by litera scripta manet at 1:40 PM on March 8, 2015 [1 favorite]